Vinnytsia region was supposed to become a "testing ground" for working out schemes for seizing the parishes of the UOC, - Metropolitan Varsonofy

Unfortunately, there are many cases when the churches of the UOC in the Vinnitsa diocese were forcibly taken away, but now they are closed, and the churchyard is simply overgrown with trees. This was told by the Metropolitan of Vinnitsa and Bar Varsonofy.

“Vinnitsa region should become a kind of “testing ground” for working out schemes for capturing our parishes. However, the so-called «crossings» were illegal, because not religious communities, but territorial ones, gathered for their implementation. And for some reason, the heads of villages or district administrations did this. <…>

2019 and 2020 were difficult years, because officials interfered and forced those who are responsible at the local level to influence the religious life of villages or communities (namely, to solve the case of transferring churches of the UOC to the OCU). The pressure was serious. In addition, Vinnytsia, as Poroshenko’s small homeland, was under his special control.

Therefore, the Vinnitsa diocese suffered the most from the actions of various officials, even intimidating people,” the hierarch said.