"Bishop" of KP under police protection holds service in seized church of UOC

On November 12, despite the protests of the UOC believers, representatives of the Kyiv Patriarchate, led by the head of the UOC-KP eparchy, Bishop Julian, held a service at the Holy Assumption Church in the village of Stary Gvozdets, with the support of the Kolomyia police, reports the press service of the Ivano-Frankivsk eparchy of the UOC.

As reported in the eparchy, the community of the UOC, legitimate users of the temple, told the UOC-KP representatives that it would not allow their worship.

Despite the documents presented by the believers of the UOC confirming the community's right to the temple, law enforcement officers, led by the head of the Kolomyia police department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Ivano-Frankivsk region Ostap Bileychuk and his deputy, the head of the investigative department, Nikolai Maksimiuk, kept the believers away from the church and let in Kyiv Patriarchate representatives. The head of the Kolomyia police told parishioners that they could go to court if they considered the actions of law enforcers illegal.

The Ivano-Frankivsk eparchy of the UOC intends to continue the struggle for the temple in accordance with the current legislation of Ukraine and, if necessary, in the European Court for Human Rights.