Priest of UOC spoke about the fate of churches seized by supporters of the OCU
The rector of the church in the village of Sedlyshche, Volyn region, UOC priest Fr. Rostyslav Khrupchyk, spoke about numerous cases of UOC churches being seized by representatives of the OCU, which deepens the religious division in Ukraine. He cited the example of his friend, Fr. Yuriy Zarafudinov, who initially joined the OCU, but upon returning to his home parish, faced the seizure of his church by OCU supporters — despite the fact that they already had their own church in the village. The full interview was published on the Viche channel.
«I want to share an example of my good friend — Father Yuriy Zarafudinov. He became known to many because he joined the Orthodox Church of Ukraine for his own personal reasons. I won’t voice them — if someone is interested, they can ask him directly. Later, Father Yuriy returned to the UOC. The situation in the village is this: there are two churches — one belongs to the UOC, the other to the OCU. Since 2014, Father Yuriy actively volunteered, regularly went to the front, and helped the defenders. Then he went to the front as a volunteer. It is absolutely impossible to suspect him of holding pro-Russian views. But while he was at the front, his friend was serving in his parish, and the OCU community ‘seized’ his church. And this despite the fact that there was already an OCU church in the village,» said Fr. Rostyslav.
The priest noted that even after the second church was seized, it remained empty because parishioners did not visit it.
“Now one OCU priest serves either in one church or the other — so the church remains idle. There are many such cases,” he added.
Father Rostyslav drew attention to the problems faced by priests and UOC believers even in cases of voluntary transitions.
“I also know cases when a priest with his community voluntarily hands over the church to the OCU because they have a majority. Hoping that it will be peaceful, that there won’t be a conflict. But even then — the priest and UOC believers are not allowed to live in peace. Everything that can be taken is seized, they are spat on in the streets, insulted. And this is despite the fact that the priest cannot be called pro-Russian,” he said.
Concluding his story, Fr. Rostyslav emphasized that the situation with church seizures negatively affects the unity of the churches and the peaceful coexistence of communities.
“We talk about unity, about a united church, but how can we unite those parishes that have suffered pain, scandals, quarrels? These are big village conflicts, quarrels — and people will remember them for a long time. It takes years for the wound to heal. And the desire to heal it — sorry, no one is willing,” he concluded.
Let us remind that, the head of the OCU Synodal Commission on Monastic Affairs, Agapit Humeniuk, hopes that the organization will be able to develop ties with the monasteries of the Orthodox Local Churches. Humeniuk claims that the OCU already has a positive experience in relations with the monasteries of Athos.
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