Another church taken away from UOC in Bila Tserkva

In the city of Bila Tserkva, Kyiv region, another church was taken away from the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in favor of the OCU. It is a church in honor of the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon. According to media reports, the church was taken away from the UOC religious community by court order. The procedure was carried out by the “chaplain” of the OCU Mykola Hopainych. This was reported by Espresso.

It is reported that the procedure for the “transfer” of St. Panteleimon’s Church of Bila Tserkva from the UOC to the OCU began last year. Then, with the assistance of local authorities, new documents were forged, which led to lawsuits between the community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the adherents of the OCU. Predictably, the court did not take into account the arguments of the UOC religious community, favoring the OCU.

“Today we entered the church, and only a security guard was there. In addition, we learned from eyewitnesses and neighbors that last night several buses were taking their belongings. And in the morning there were still remnants of their belongings: many different icons, including the icon of Alexander Nevsky, as well as literature from a Moscow publishing house in Russian language,” – said the OCU representative.

Earlier we reported that the parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the city of Bila Tserkva, Kyiv region, are suing the local city council for the right to own land plots under the UOC churches. This situation has arisen due to the fact that in April 2023, the Bila Tserkva City Council decided to deprive the parishes of the UOC of their ownership of the land plots.