OCU hierarch declares "occupation" of Volyn by "Russian world"

The odious head of the Volyn Diocese of the OCU, Mikhail Zinkevich, said that Volyn is under the “occupation of the Russian world.” He also expressed optimism about a “new wave” of community transitions to the OCU, which he attributed to the law banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

In an interview with the regional TV channel “Competitor TV”, Zinkevich called the Volyn region “occupied territory”. Commenting on the expulsion of the community of the Cathedral of the Assumption of Volodymyr from its church, he emphasized that this is not enough. In his opinion, in Volyn , “there are many more occupied shrines that are located in the occupied territory, let’s call it that, occupied by the ‘Russian world’.” Among such places, the “metropolitan” included Lutsk, Chartoryisk, Miltsi, Zymove, and many other shrines, which, according to him, were built “not under Russia, not even under Muscovy.”

Despite the slowdown in the pace of “transitions” to the OCU in Volyn, Zinkevich is optimistic about the future, expecting the next “wave” of parishioners. He attributes these expectations to the potential adoption of a law banning the UOC. “There will be a lot of red tape with various legal directions, for the property of the church, the building, the land near the church, and so on. It will be a somewhat time-consuming procedure. But there will be legal precedents, and therefore it will be easier for the next judges who will make decisions,” Zinkevich explained.

Earlier we reported that the complex of buildings of the Holy Dormition Cathedral of the Volodymyr-Volyn Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the city of Volodymyr, which was previously taken away from the UOC by the state, was officially transferred to the balance sheet of the OCU.