On April 15th representatives of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine“ (OCU) forcefully expelled a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) from the temple in the village of Kopytov in the Rovno region.
In the video it is seen how several people literally push the priest outside of the gate while shouting “Shame!”. The parishioners were also expelled from the temple together with the clergyman.
“I represent the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), I have served for 21 years. I baptised, buried, and married the relatives of all these people… and now you see what was done to me,” said the archpriest Igor Vlasyuk.
According to him, the authorities kindled religious strife between the people. “They provoked not only a war in the East, but also a war in villages,” he said.
At the same time, the newly created OCU has a different version of events, or to be more precise, a Banderist viewpoint. Apparently, it was proposed to Vlasyuk to serve on an alternating basis: the priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) serves in the temple one week, and the priest of the OCU serves the other week. However, Igor Vlasyuk did not agree to concede the temple. Now the courts are dealing with the matter. It was suggested to seal off the building before a decision is made.
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