Vinnitsa state employees are forced to attend OCU services

The Holy Transfiguration Cathedral of Vinnitsa is under control of Metropolitan Simeon banned from ministry

From the evening of December 15, 2018 (Saturday), the leadership obliged Vinnitsa state employees to attend almost every service at the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral, which is occupied by Metropolitan Simeon (Shostatsky) banned from serving by the Synod of the UOC.

Our sources told a UOJ correspondent that the citizens of Ukraine had to ensure maximum attendance on Sunday. People are forced to go to the services under signature; at some enterprises, employees are forcibly divided into groups to attend the Cathedral seized by the OCU. 

In the case of disobedience or disclosure of information, employees of the city executive committee, medical and educational institutions and other state establishments are threatened with dismissal.

On December 17, 2018, the Synod of the UOC decided to ban Metropolitan Simeon (Shostatsky) from ministry.

On the same day, at the evening Divine service, Vladyka Simeon said that the UOC believers would not be able to return the Transfiguration Cathedral in Vinnitsa, as it was in 1991. The bishop, banned from ministry, said that the Cathedral’s premises remained with the community, which had joined the OCU.

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