In Brykiv, OCU raiders want to dishouse the widow of a deceased UOC priest
The late Archpriest Viktor Omelchuk. Photo: UOJ
OCU activists, who seized the temple of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Brykiv in the Kremenets district of the Ternopil region in 2019 and tried to expel Archpriest Viktor Omelchuk and his family from the church house, resumed their attacks a few days after the unexpected death of the priest. The UOJ was told about this by the UOC believers in the village of Brykiv, who built a new church in honor of the Holy Great Martyr George the Victorious with the help of benefactors.
According to the believers, the priest served in the village since 1992 and lived for almost 30 years with Presbytera Elena and the children in a church house. After the seizure of the temple, the raiders threatened Father Viktor and his family, broke into the house demanding that it be handed over to the OCU. But since the schismatics had no legal grounds, they were not able to evict the priest.
On January 8, 2022, Archpriest Viktor Omelchuk reposed in the Lord due to complications caused by COVID-19. The funeral service for the deceased cleric was led by the ruling bishop, Metropolitan Sergiy of Ternopil and Kremenets.
Immediately on January 10, OCU activists began to threaten the 61-year-old widow and even went to the head of the local OTG demanding to give them the house and evict the family of the deceased rector. As the parishioners said, the woman simply has nowhere to go, so the local believers of the UOC will defend her legal right to live in the church house and will never leave the widow without support.
As the UOJ reported, a wooden church in Brykiv village was built by the efforts of parishioners back in 1800. In February 2019, the raiders of the OCU seized the temple from the believers of the UOC. However, the religious community continued divine services in the rector’s house.
At the end of 2020, Metropolitan Sergiy consecrated a new church for the raided community of the UOC in Brykiv.
Read also
Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers Adopts Resolution to Streamline UOC Ban—Blocks US Access to Website
The resolution seeks to "open the way to the ban of organizations affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church."
UOC Temple Seized by OCU and Local Police in Khmelnytsky
The Holy Resurrection Church (UOC) is the latest temple seized by activists of the OCU and various ultra-nationalist groups.
Andrew Schulz says Orthodoxy is the One True Church
In a recent interview with noted Biblical Scholar Wesley Huf, Andrew Schulz pressed him on the claims of the Orthodox Church.
Texas Turns on the Establishment: Ukraine War Splits the GOP’s Strongest State
Senator John Cornyn, a Bush-era hawk and symbol of Republican orthodoxy, faces a political earthquake as Trump-aligned Ken Paxton surges ahead in the polls.
ROCOR nun to teach at OCU academy
Vassa Larin will become a lecturer at the Department of Church-Practical Disciplines at an OCU educational institution.
Archaeologists "Discover" Jesus’ Tomb (Right Where It’s Always Been)
Excavations at Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre reaffirm what Christians have claimed for centuries