Zeleniv. OCU raiders seized a church on a religious holiday

Temple of the Archangel Michael of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Address: Chernivtsi region, Zeleniv village, Nezalezhnosti street.

St. Michael's Church of the UOC in Zelenov village was first illegally re-registered by OCU activists, and then brutally seized by a raider group.

Criminals acted right on the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist. The raider group cut off the locks, broke the windows and broke into the church.

On June 2, 2024, a group of OCU raiders organized an illegal meeting of Zeleniv village territorial community.

Activists who have no relation to the parish of the UOC St. Michael's Church imitated a religious community. Real representatives of the religious community were not allowed to participate in the meeting.

The criminal group declared 110 votes in favor and 10 votes against the so-called transfer of the religious community to the OCU.

(Source: Suspilne, Chernivtsi)

On June 3, 2024, the Chernivtsi-Bukovina Eparchy of the UOC denied false information about the gathering.

At the meeting of the territorial community, the majority voted against the transfer of the UOC parish to the OCU, but the organizers of the meeting preferred not to notice this, the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Eparchy reported and added that local media traditionally spread distorted information.

The diocese said that on June 2, 2024, a meeting of the territorial community for the transition to the OCU was held in Zeleniv village, Brusnitsa UTC. This meeting was attended by the religious community of the UOC parish in honor of the St. Archangel Michael, the fate of which was going to be decided by the territorial community of Zeleniv village.

"Members of the religious community tried to explain to the organizers of the transition to the OCU that their meeting was invalid, since according to Article 8 of Law 987-XII, the territorial community cannot vote for a change in church jurisdiction, since they are not members of the UOC religious community according to the charter of the religious community, so they do not have the legal right to initiate a meeting. Despite this, the organizers continued the meeting and held a vote," the message says.

The diocesan press service published a video in which "it is clear to the naked eye that the majority of people, including a military man, were against "the transfer" of the UOC religious community of the parish in honor of the St. Archangel Michael to."

However, according to Orthodox Bukovinians, the organizers of the transition pretended that only 10 people voted against.

"Therefore, the information about the transfer of the UOC religious community of Zeleniv village to the OCU is an outright lie. We appeal to all the media to refute the false information that the village community has moved to the OCU," the UOC diocese said.

(Source: UOJ)

On September 10, 2024, a group of raiders from the OCU seized a church.

“The desecration of the holy site was committed on the eve of the Beheading of John the Baptist,” the statement of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese of the UOC says. “Supporters of the OCU used an angle grinder to cut off the locks on the church doors and smashed a window through which they climbed in and out.”

According to the conviction of Orthodox believers of Bukovyna, such an act resembles barbarism more than Christianity.

(Source: UOJ)