In Malinsk DSA deputy helps believers defend their temple

OCU supporters attempted to seize the Peter and Paul Church in the village of Malinsk

As it became known to the UOJ, on April 23, 2019, on Holy Tuesday, OCU supporters wanted to commit a raider seizure of the Peter and Paul Church in the village of Malinsk of the Berezno district.

At about 18 o'clock the interfaith fight in the churchyard was successfully resolved by Anatoliy Rudkovsky, a deputy of the Sarny DSA. The people's representative, according to eyewitnesses, proved to the police that the UOC believers have legal grounds for the possession of a religious building.

“The entire large community of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in this village is sincerely grateful to Mr Rudkovsky for helping to prevent violent confrontation and reassure OCU activists,” commented Archpriest Viktor Zemlianoy, head of the Department for Interfaith Resolution of Disputes at the Rovno and Sarny Eparchies of the UOC. “The deputy in a church dispute spoke primarily as a diplomat and demanded respect for the rule of law.”

According to the clergy, the OCU supporters acted contrary to previous agreements, which supposed deciding the fate of the church in the legal field.

“The rector of the church went to the district centre in the morning, the OCU activists just took advantage of his absence and came to cut the locks,” says Archpriest Igor Kospa, the dean of the Berezno Deanery of the UOC. “Thank God, our people reacted quickly and managed to resist the pressure until the negotiations.”

Now, the religious community of the UOC is serving an akathist near the Peter and Paul Church; the situation in the village is still unstable, so the parishioners are going to arrange a day-and-night watch near their church.

As the UOJ reported, on the evening of April 23, 2019, in the village of Malinsk of the Berezno district, Rovno region, an attempt was made to seize a temple of the UOC.

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