OCU seizes chapel where ex-clergyman who defected to UOC-KP served

Ex-cleric of the OCU Yaroslav Yasenets, who recently joined the Kyiv Patriarchate, said that by order of Epiphany Dumenko, the chapel of the Baptism of the Lord in Kyiv, where Yasenets performed his ministry, was seized. According to Yasenets himself, after his decision to move from the OCU to the UOC-KP, Epiphany Dumenko appointed a new rector in his place, who claimed the chapel. Yaroslav Yasenets wrote about this on Facebook.

«Metropolitan Epifaniy has gotten into the habit of organizing the squeezing of parishes, not only of the UOC but also of the UOC-KP. And if he justifies the former by the fight against the Russian Church, in the latter case it is pure revenge, which will not bring any benefit to his structure, but will only help the affected parishioners. […] After I left Epiphany’s omophorion and loudly criticized the problems of the OCU, I suddenly learned that the formal founders of the parish, who had not given a single pot of money for 6 years, suddenly became active and gave me an ultimatum: either leave the chapel or they will seize it by force, changing the locks. Behind my back, they re-registered the charter from the KP to the OCU (I had not re-registered it all these years, hoping for the return of the patriarchate), and Epifaniy appointed another priest there. I don’t know exactly who initiated it, most likely it came from the metropolis,» Yasenets wrote.

At the same time, Yasenets added that he refused to confront, and the newly appointed rector of the chapel gave him all the property accumulated in previous years.

«To avoid bloodshed and slaughter between the Orthodox, I decided not to start a war. We managed to come to an agreement with the new priest of the OCU and his people on favorable terms: I take back all the church utensils donated to me, and they, in turn, help me find a better place to serve. Since the territory of this chapel was very problematic from the very beginning and there were virtually no prospects for legalizing it for further development, there was little point in holding on to it. Our congregation consists mainly of people who liked my service, sermons and activities; the local residents of Zarichnyi residential complex did not attend. We will continue our ministry in the future,» he added.

Earlier we reported that the notorious cleric of the OCU Yaroslav Kulik (Yasenets) publicly announced his withdrawal from this religious structure. The reason for his departure was his categorical disagreement with the course of the head of the organization, Epiphany Dumenko.