Sarny Eparchy: OCU community of vlg. Mashcha is based on fraud and deceit

St. John the Theologian Church in vlg. Mashcha. Photo: Rivne News

On December 18, the press service of the Sarny Eparchy of the UOC gave an official response to the comment of the Rivne Eparchy of the UOC concerning the events taking place in the village of Mashcha of the Kostopil district, Rivne region, in which it accused the OCU representatives of falsehood, deceit, and distortion of facts. The full text can be found on the website of the Sarny Eparchy of the UOC.

The eparchy declares that "The commentary of the OCU eparchy <...> from beginning to end is formed from information that is not true".

According to the testimony of the villagers who are already withdrawing their signatures, activists of the OCU mischievously formulated questions, used political slogans, resorted to charges and intimidation during the survey on the transfer of the community to the OCU, questioning all the villagers, and not just the parishioners of the church.

In this regard, representatives of the UOC remind that the issue of changing the denomination is decided only by the church, not territorial, community headed by the rector of the church.

The eparchy emphasizes that the community of the UOC of vlg. Mashcha owns a full package of title documents to the religious building, and there is no information on how the same package of documents has appeared with the OCU supporters recently.

According to the representatives of the eparchy, believers of the UOC defend their interests in a civilized manner in a court of law, while dissenters, breaking the laws of the state, cut church locks on November 29 and raided the church.

As reported, on December 16, the Kostopil DSA sealed the St. John the Theologian Church of the UOC in vlg. Mashcha till receiving an official response from the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

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