Hilcha. OCU Raiders Launched Multiple Storming Attempts on the Church
Church of St. Nicholas (UOC)
Address: Rivne Oblast, village of Hilcha
OCU raiders in the village of Hilcha, with the assistance of local government representatives, falsified documents for the UOC's St. Nicholas Church.
The raiders staged several violent provocations against the faithful and clergy of the church. After the first seizure attempt, law enforcement decided to seal the church.
Despite a court ruling in favor of the UOC community, OCU raiders tore off the seals, cut the locks, and seized the church.
A group of OCU activists threatened to kill the UOC priest if he continued to conduct services on the territory of the village.
🔴On June 5, 2022, parishioners of St. Nicholas Church reaffirmed their loyalty to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church headed by Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine Onuphrius at a congregational meeting.
This was reported by Hegumen Herman (Kulakevych) on his Facebook page.
"The community once again confirmed its belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The parishioners of our church did not attend the meeting that was held that day near the local community center, initiated by an unknown 'organizing committee,' emphasizing that this meeting has no relation whatsoever to our religious community," the priest wrote.
The parishioners gathered in the church and, at the suggestion of Father Herman, held an open vote to decide whether the community should remain in the UOC or transfer to the OCU. Of the 65 people present, 64 voted to remain loyal to the UOC; no votes were cast in favor of transferring to the OCU, and one parishioner abstained.
The day before, OCU supporters had posted notices around the village inviting residents to a meeting regarding the transfer of the St. Nicholas Church community from the UOC to the OCU.
🔴On June 24, 2022, village council deputies transferred the Holy Spring of St. Nicholas in the village of Hilcha to the balance of the Department of Education and Culture, after which OCU supporters began gathering there for prayer services.
This was reported by the press service of the Rivne Diocese, citing the Facebook page of Archimandrite Herman (Kulakevych), rector of St. Nicholas Church in the village of Hilcha.
According to the priest, on March 7, 2022, the deputies transferred the Holy Spring of St. Nicholas to the balance of the Department of Education and Culture of the Zdolbuniv Territorial Community.
Father Herman recounted that after this, "OCU representatives led by a priest from the neighboring village of Urvenna began conducting services at the spring." He also noted that the prayer plaques in Church Slavonic, which had been affixed near the spring for many years for the convenience of the faithful, were replaced with new ones in the Ukrainian language.
"What is troubling here is not the language in which the prayer is written, but the manner in which this removal and replacement was carried out — as if done stealthily, without any coordination or prior notice; they have not even returned the actual prayer texts to us to this day," Father Herman noted.
The priest assured that UOC parishioners continue to come to the spring to pray and hold water-blessing services, unlike OCU supporters, who have "apparently lost interest."
"I address all people who have visited and continue to visit the holy spring, all those who are interested and ask questions: the spring is in its place, and by God's grace the water flows just as it always has. Fortunately, no one will be able to pocket the spring. The holy site is open for everyone to visit," the archimandrite emphasized.
🔴On July 31, 2022, a clash occurred between OCU supporters and the UOC religious community on the grounds of St. Nicholas Church in the village of Hilcha of the Zdolbuniv Deanery of the Rivne Diocese.
According to eyewitnesses, the newly created OCU community arrived at the church with an extract from the Unified State Register confirming its registration and demanded that the church — in which UOC faithful conduct services — be handed over to them. The church's parishioners met the raiders outside, at the church doors, after the Sunday liturgy.
The instigator of the religious conflict in Hilcha is Kateryna Tyshkovets, a deputy of the Zdolbytsia Amalgamated Territorial Community from the European Solidarity party. According to local residents, Tyshkovets had already organized the seizure of a church in the neighboring village of Urvenna.
Eyewitness and UOC Rivne Diocese press secretary Archpriest Vasyl Nachev recounted that after the official's speech he asked police officers present on the church grounds to record the fact of incitement of inter-confessional hatred. "She called part of the Hilcha village community traitors, even though among those standing there were mothers of soldiers fighting at the front," the priest explained.
The criminal group was accompanied by four OCU clergy who, after a prolonged and aggressive confrontation, proposed conducting services in the church on an alternating basis.
In response, Archimandrite Herman (Kulakevych), rector of the UOC's St. Nicholas Church, proposed that alternating services first be established in the churches of Urvenna, Korshiv, and Buderazh — churches that OCU raiders had forcibly taken from UOC religious communities two years earlier.
"Our religious community held a meeting in the church as required by the legislation of Ukraine and remained loyal to the canonical Church headed by Metropolitan Onuphrius. You, however, held a meeting without notice and without an invitation from the rector — that is, from me — which, under the legislation of our country, is invalid, and you have come here with demands. Go to court; let justice now decide who the church should belong to. We will provide all the necessary documents as proof that our religious community is the owner of the church," said rector Archimandrite Herman (Kulakevych).
To end the dispute, the UOC faithful began to serve a thanksgiving prayer service, and the OCU community withdrew.
🔴On August 4, 2022, law enforcement opened criminal proceedings against OCU supporters who made several attempts to seize the UOC's St. Nicholas Church.
The case was opened under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: document forgery, use of forged documents, and incitement of inter-confessional hatred.
"In reality, all the hallmarks of a raider seizure of a UOC church are clearly evident here," emphasized Rivne Diocese press secretary Archpriest Vasyl Nachev.
According to him, there is a UOC-KP religious community in Hilcha; however, OCU activists did not re-register that community but instead obtained the personal data of the UOC religious community and used it as the basis for their registration. Father Vasyl called this a theater of the absurd and added that the diocese has questions for those who allowed this theater to become reality.
🔴On November 2, 2022, it became known that OCU supporters had been distributing leaflets in the village defaming the priest and church activists, and at night had painted the letter Z on the fences of homes.
In the village of Hilcha, unknown individuals wrote the letter Z on the fences of several UOC faithful. According to the victims, they decided not to publicize the incident widely.
"People of the Church are taught to endure and to humble themselves; they swallowed this outrage, stayed silent, and suffered through it. But evil has the property of multiplying, especially where it is constantly nourished and where people live by it," commented Archimandrite Herman (Kulakevych), rector of the UOC's St. Nicholas Church in Hilcha.
A week after the letter Z appeared on the fences, leaflets containing hate rhetoric directed at active UOC faithful and the rector of St. Nicholas Parish were distributed to the homes of village residents.
Father Herman noted that, judging by whose fences were vandalized and by the content of the leaflets, it can be stated with confidence that this was the work of Dumenko's supporters.
"I sympathize with the founders of such a 'church,' its leaders and ministers, since these people are members of their religious organization," declared the head of the UOC St. Nicholas Community in the village of Hilcha. He advised the head of the OCU's Rivne Diocese, Illarion, and OCU "priest" Mykola Pisarchuk to "teach their charges the primary commandment — love of neighbor and basic human decency."
🔴On November 10, 2022, the Zdolbuniv District Court recognized the UOC religious community in honor of St. Nicholas in the village of Hilcha as the aggrieved party in the conflict instigated by OCU supporters.
The Zdolbuniv District Court considered the complaint filed by UOC faithful regarding the inaction of an investigator who had refused to recognize the UOC religious community as the aggrieved party. Witnesses in the case were heard at the hearing.
The outcome of the court session was the recognition of the UOC religious community as the aggrieved party. The court also recognized the violations committed by the OCU community: forgery of documents on the basis of which re-registration was carried out, resulting in the UOC religious community being removed from the Unified State Register; incitement of religious hatred; and attempted forcible seizure of the church.
🔴On November 26, 2022, a group of OCU raiders attempted to seize the UOC's St. Nicholas Church.
The raiders tore off the locks and attempted to enter the church grounds.
The church was sealed following the attempted forcible seizure by OCU supporters.
🔴On April 19, 2023, raiders cut the locks off the doors of St. Nicholas Church and seized it.
UOC faithful came to defend the church, but law enforcement officers, who had separated the raiders from UOC community members, prevented them from doing so.
Eyewitnesses report that there were only a few church raiders — several women.
The criminal group broke open the church doors.
Local residents state that the pretext for the church seizure was news of the funeral of Ukrainian serviceman Bohdan Shvaia, who was to be given a requiem service by UOC priests.
"The mother of the fallen soldier came to my home to discuss the details of the funeral. When she left to go home, she was caught up by people from the OCU who began trying to persuade her to have her son buried through the OCU," recounts Archimandrite Herman (Kulakevych), rector of St. Nicholas Church. "The mother called me later and told me about it. No one has the right to mock a woman struck by grief, much less to impose their religious convictions upon her."
The instigators of the pressure on the fallen serviceman's mother were two women: European Solidarity deputy Kateryna Tyshkovets and local OCU activist Olha Shevchuk. After failing to persuade the church parishioner, these two women stirred up part of the crowd and led them to cut the locks on St. Nicholas Church.
(Source: Rivne Diocese of the UOC)
🔴On June 21, 2023, representatives of the UOC St. Nicholas Religious Community of the village of Hilcha participated in a commission meeting that preceded an upcoming session of the Zdolbytsia Territorial Community.
The commission discussed the question of transferring the land beneath the UOC's St. Nicholas Church for the use of the OCU.
"We came to our elected representatives to tell them that we exist, that there are many of us, to remind them that we are Ukrainians, equal residents of the community," recounted Iryna Oleinychuk, a UOC faithful, wife and mother of two servicemen. "Through a formal petition, we asked that the session not consider the question of granting permanent use of the church, but instead leave the land in communal ownership and preserve our ability to conduct traditional services at the spring and to trade at the kiosk.
The deputies met the UOC religious community representatives' appeal with a torrent of negative emotions which, according to eyewitnesses, subsequently escalated into insults, profanity, and shouting. The community head was forced to ask police to calm the deputies down.
"When arranging our meeting, Territorial Community head Tetiana Tymoshchuk asked me to bring peaceful, reasonable people," commented Archimandrite Herman (Kulakevych), rector of St. Nicholas Church in Hilcha. "When I saw the true face of those who govern our community, those who make decisions at sessions, I understood what I understood — they do not know the most basic rules of civility and do not know how to conduct themselves."
Due to the deputies' unacceptable behavior, the religious community representatives left the village council premises, having first submitted their requests — a written petition — for the deputies' consideration.
(Source: Rivne Diocese of the UOC)
🔴On July 28, 2023, a group of OCU activists with the support of UOC-KP representatives cut the locks on the doors of the sealed UOC St. Nicholas Church.
The raiders acted under the direction of a local deputy from the European Solidarity party.
🔴On August 1, 2023, it became known that a local council deputy from the European Solidarity party and a group of her supporters were attempting to prohibit clergy and parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from praying at the Holy Spring of St. Nicholas.
This was reported by Archpriest Vasyl Nachev, head of the Legal Department of the UOC's Rivne Diocese.
"The attempt to forbid us from praying here — at the spring — is nothing other than spiritual separatism, because the spring is located on the land of the territorial community, and accordingly everyone may pray here," Father Vasyl noted. "The attempts by the local European Solidarity deputy and several of her supporters, who say that we are not allowed to pray here, simply look ridiculous."
The priest also explained that the water in the spring, despite the OCU's "services," remains blessed and healing.
"Lately there are fewer and fewer people here. People say that today the OCU community 'serves' here and 'blesses the water,' and they do not want to come here for water. This is wrong — the water here is blessed regardless. The local church rector, Archimandrite Herman, conducts services and every Thursday celebrates water-blessing prayer services, so one may take water here and receive healing from it," said the archpriest.
🔴On August 13, 2023, parishioners of the UOC St. Nicholas Church gathered near their church.
The faithful wanted to prevent raiders from entering their church again. The church community managed to enter the grounds, but OCU activists brought more people.
OCU raiders attacked the faithful.
Police who arrived in response to the call were forced to use force and expel everyone from the church grounds. OCU activists threatened rector Archimandrite Herman (Kulakevych) with beheading if he continued to conduct services in the village.
КУ ст. 35 (свобода вероисповедания) · ЕСПЧ ст. 9 · Нормы ООН