In Volyn, head of village council appeals to Epiphany to remove local OCU cleric

The head of the Lokachi village council of the Volyn region, Bohdan Ius, sent a complaint to the head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko, in which he called for the removal of the rector of the local Transfiguration Church of the OCU, Igor Druzhynets. The official accuses Druzhynets of behavior inappropriate to his position, which is why local residents refuse to join the OCU and even return to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The letter to the head of the OCU with this complaint is being shared by local groups on Facebook.

«The extreme cases of negative behavior of priest I.I. Druzhynets, incompatible with the behavior of even an ordinary person, put an end to our patience and forced us to turn to you,» Ius writes in an appeal to Epiphany Dumenko.

The chairman of the Lokachi village council pointed out that the OCU cleric refused to perform funeral services for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, rudely treated parishioners, intimidated people and conducted non-transparent financial activities. Ius also stated that Druzhynets made the management of the local Transfiguration Church of the OCU his «family business,» which together pushes people away from the parish and even forces them to attend other churches, in particular, those of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

«The inappropriate behavior of the above-mentioned priest and almost constant negative statements in the church and at public events, incessant scandals and baseless accusations and intimidation, push a large number of OCU parishioners away from the church. People are forced to go to other settlements for prayer, a significant number of them are leaving for other faiths, and some community members are returning to the churches of the UOC-MP,» the statement reads.

Bohdan Ius added that in connection with the above, he sees no other way to solve the problem than to remove Igor Druzhynets from the leadership of the Transfiguration Parish of the OCU in Lokachi and transfer it to another settlement, while appointing a new rector for the Transfiguration Church of Lokachi.

«We believe that the only correct way out of this situation is the immediate transfer of Druzhynets I. I. from the Transfiguration Church of the Lokachi Deanery to another community and the assignment of a prudent priest to the Transfiguration Church of the Lokachi Deanery who could bring true faith in the Lord God, unity of people and peace of mind to the community,» 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.