More than 25,000 believers in Vinnitsa region sign an appeal to President

Metropolitan of Vinnitsa and Bar Varsonofy (Stoliar). Photo: ukraina.ru

25,265 people from the Vinnitsa and Tulchin eparchies of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church signed an open appeal from the clergy and believers to President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky. Metropolitan Varsonofy of Vinnitsa and Bar and Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchin and Bratslav handed it over to the President’s office, the Vinnitsa Eparchy reports on Facebook.

The appeal refers to the oppression of the religious communities of the UOC in Vinnitsa, as the head of the Department for Religions of the Vinnitsa RSA Igor Saletsky lobbies the interests of the OCU. The believers reported raider schemes for the seizure of temples and an interfaith conflict in the village of Luka-Meleshkovskaya, which has been going on for about six months now. The outrage of believers is also caused by the fact that Metropolitan Varsonofy of Vinnitsa and Bar, for various artificially created reasons, has been denied state registration as head of the eparchy for about a year.

The clergy and parishioners of the eparchies hope for the help of the Presidential Office in resolving the issues that have arisen.

As reported earlier, in Luka-Meleshkovskaya supporters of the OCU refused the help offered by the UOC community in the construction of a new church and claim for the temple that belongs to the UOC.

Read also