Security forces seize UOC church in Biloziria
Police officers expelled a priest and parishioners from a church in Biloziria during a memorial service, saying the church now belonged to the OCU.
In the village of Biloziria, Cherkasy region, police officers and people in military uniforms seized the historic Transfiguration Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
According to the Dozor Telegram channel, security forces entered the church immediately after the Divine Liturgy had ended, when most parishioners had already gone home. At the time, the priest and several faithful were holding a memorial service.
The security forces ordered the priest to leave the building immediately and announced that the church was now “OCU property.” When believers approached the village council for an explanation, officials said that a certain “community” had allegedly formalized a “transfer to the OCU.”
MP Serhii Rudyk, a supporter of Dumenko’s organization, said that OCU “services” would be held in the seized church as early as September 27. OCU supporters in the village already had their own building, constructed with Rudyk’s assistance, but nevertheless decided to deprive UOC believers of the opportunity to worship in their own church.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that an OCU cleric and police officers cut the locks and seized a UOC church in Dashkivtsi.
