Babyn. Police Used Force Against a UOC Priest

Church of the Ascension of the Lord (UOC)

Address: Chernivtsi Oblast, village of Babyn, 11 T. Shevchenko St.

OCU raiders began their seizure of the UOC Ascension Church in the village of Babyn with a blatant falsification of documents.

Having carried out an unlawful re-registration of the church, the raiders burst into the church in the middle of a church service. The police actively assisted the raiders.

Law enforcement officers used brute physical force against the church's rector.

On December 25, 2022, in the village of Babyn, a meeting of the territorial community was held at the community center, presided over by one Oksana Lekhnyak.

The meeting was conducted under the guise of a meeting of the religious community of the parish in honor of the Ascension of the Lord (UOC) of the village of Babyn, Kelmenets Deanery, Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese, with the aim of unlawfully transferring the church to the OCU.
Mitrophore Archpriest Ioann Prоtsyuk, rector of the parish in honor of the Ascension of the Lord (UOC) of the village of Babyn, Kelmenets Deanery, Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese, states that the UOC religious community of the village of Babyn did not hold a meeting of the UOC religious community on December 25.

The faithful do not plan to change their church affiliation and remain part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The clergyman stressed that false information from Oksana Lekhnyak had appeared on social media regarding a meeting of the UOC religious community of the village of Babyn, Kelmenets Deanery, concerning a change in confessional affiliation.
According to the rector, the individual spreading this false information, Oksana Lekhnyak, is not a resident of Chernivtsi Oblast and is certainly not a member of the UOC religious community of the village of Babyn.

(Source: Facebook page "The Faithful of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese of the UOC")

On February 10, 2023, the Chernivtsi Regional State Administration decided to register the transfer of the UOC Holy Ascension Parish to the OCU without the consent of the religious community itself.

The regional state administration approved the new edition of the parish's charter on the basis of a resolution passed at a meeting of village residents held on December 25, 2022. The meeting was held at the village community center under the guise of a religious community assembly, even though the parishioners were at that time praying in the church.

(Source: RISU)

On March 22, 2023, representatives of the National Police used violence against the clergyman and the community of the Holy Ascension Church (UOC) of the village of Babyn in order to forcibly hand the church over to a criminal OCU group.

Police officers burst into the church while the sacrament of Holy Unction was being performed.

Archpriest Ioann Protsyuk did not even have time to remove his liturgical vestments.

Father Ioann had to spend about half an hour persuading the police officers to allow the sacrament to be completed.

After the conclusion of the Holy Unction, OCU raiders together with their cleric attempted to force their way into the altar and began pushing UOC faithful aside.

In order to prevent the desecration of the church, Father Ioann attempted to obstruct the actions of the aggressive perpetrators. Police representatives then began applying brute physical force against the priest.

(Source: RISU)

On March 27, 2023, Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets declared that the spread in the media and on social networks of video footage of the crimes committed by police and OCU raiders in the village of Babyn constitutes "a provocation against Ukraine."

According to him, the rights of all believers are protected in Ukraine, and the video of the seizure of the Ascension Church is nothing other than "a targeted information campaign against the state."

Lubinets noted that the footage showing police officers forcibly dragging a priest out of the church was "taken out of context."

The Commissioner also stressed that the relevant services would respond to violations of the rights of those believers who expressed a wish to transfer from the UOC to the OCU. However, Lubinets declined to comment on the question of protecting the rights of UOC parishioners.

(Source: RISU)

On March 2, 2024, Metropolitan Meletiy of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna performed the consecration of the UOC house church in the village of Babyn, in honor of the Ascension of the Lord.

The hierarch was co-served by the secretary of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese, Mitrophore Archpriest Dmytro Shcherban, the community's rector and dean of the Kelmenets District, Mitrophore Archpriest Ioann Protsyuk, and Priest Oleh Lekar.

In his archpastoral address, the hierarch thanked the parishioners for their faithfulness to the Church and the benefactors for their support of the community.

More than 80 parishioners attended the consecration. On Sunday, March 3, the first Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the Ascension Church.

(Source: RISU)