First divine service held in the house of the elder of the seized church of UOC in Kinakhovtsy (PHOTOS)

Sixty parishioners attended the first divine service, which was performed in the house of the chief of the UOC community, whose church in the village of Kinakhovtsy, Zbarazh district, was seized by schismatics, reports a UOJ correspondent.

Prior to the grab, no less than 60-70 believers had attended Sunday services at the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul of the UOC, on feast days – even more. The last time the congregation gathered for the Sunday Liturgy in their own church on May 14. On the evening of May 15, representatives of the Kiev Patriarchate, breaking the locks on the side entrance, broke into the church and seized it.

The religious community, consisting of the parishioners of Butin, Kinakhovtsy, Myshkovtsy, who remained without the church due to the raids of the UOC-KP, decided to temporarily hold services in the house of the elder Stepan Tyvoniuk.

Before the seizure of another cult building by the Kiev Patriarchate, local authorities and officials of the Ternopol DSA re-registered the statute of the UOC community of Kinakhovtsy in favour of the UOC-KP, leaving the previous statutory document in force.

The Ternopol diocese of the UOC is fighting for each seized temple in courts. In each settlement affected by the raids of the Kiev Patriarchate, divine services of the canonical Church continue.