Irkliiv. OCU Raiders Used Sledgehammers and Angle Grinders to Break Down the Doors of a UOC Church

Holy Trinity Church of the UOC

Address: Cherkasy Region, village of Irkliiv, 60 B. Khmelnytskyi St.

A group of OCU raiders in the village of Irkliiv organized an illegal territorial community assembly at which they falsified documents for the UOC's Trinity Church.

After waiting for the illegal re-registration of the church, the raiders stormed the church grounds and attempted to seize the premises. An OCU cleric personally cut the locks off the church doors.

That day, the faithful managed to defend their church, but just a few days later, waiting for the curfew, the raiders staged a second assault.

🔴On June 2, 2023, a group of OCU activists organized an illegal territorial community assembly in the village of Irkliiv, Cherkasy Region.

A group of people, posing as the religious community of the UOC's Trinity Church, voted to transfer the church to OCU ownership.

(Source: Project "DOZOR on the First Cossack")

🔴On June 21, 2023, the church's rector, Archbishop John of Zolotonosha, stated that the assembly of residents of the village of Irkliiv, Cherkasy Region, concerning the transfer of the Holy Trinity Cathedral parish of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the OCU cannot have any legal or factual consequences for the church community.

From the letter of the hierarch who built the cathedral in Irkliev, it follows that those who voted for the transfer were people unrelated to the Holy Trinity parish, since, according to its charter, this religious community has fixed membership.

"Our religious community, in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine and its charter, consists of clergy, church ministers, and laity — members of the parish assembly who have reached the age of 18, acknowledge the binding nature of the UOC Governance Statute, regularly participate in divine services, go to confession and receive communion, remain in canonical obedience to the rector, and are not under prohibition or ecclesiastical court proceedings that would prohibit full participation in liturgical life," the archbishop stated. "The parish assembly of the legal entity 'Parish of the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the UOC, village of Irkliiv' has fixed membership, which is approved by the ruling bishop of the Cherkasy Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church."

The archbishop emphasized that "no actions to change the canonical jurisdiction of the parish have taken place," and that the faithful had warned the regional state administration of the unlawfulness of holding on their behalf "any assembly of village residents or other assemblies that cannot have any legal or factual consequences with respect to the religious community."

The UOC hierarch also noted that in the minutes of the most recent parish assembly, held on May 31, 2023, members of the church community "unanimously confirmed the subordination of the parish of the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the UOC, village of Irkliiv, to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, and to the Holy Synod of the UOC."

(Source: UOJ)

🔴On August 3, 2023, the Cherkasy Regional Military Administration registered a new version of the charter of the community of the Trinity Cathedral of the UOC in the village of Irkliev, according to which the parish allegedly transferred to the OCU.

Photocopies of the order of RMA head Ihor Taburets, the title page of the charter, and other documents were published on Facebook by OCU activist Lina Naida.

"Good news! Our Holy Trinity Cathedral in the village of Irkliiv now officially belongs to the faithful of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. We hope the handover of keys will take place shortly," wrote Naida.

The re-registration was carried out on June 30, 2023, on the basis of a "statement of believing citizens" and the minutes of a "parish assembly" held on June 2.

The activist also published a decree from the head of the OCU's Cherkasy Diocese, dated July 24, appointing "protopriest" Mykhailo Romaniuk as "rector" of the Trinity Cathedral.

(Source: UOJ)

🔴On August 2, 2023, OCU raiders attempted to seize the Holy Trinity Church of the UOC.

"'Armed' with abusive language, a group of hostile individuals posing as the church community entered into a fierce conflict with the priests and genuine parishioners who were praying outside at the time," stated the Cherkasy Diocese of the UOC.

"When the profanity ran out, brute physical force was employed. Armed with an angle grinder, the 'rector' of the previously seized Transfiguration Church in the village of Velyki Kanevtsi, OCU 'priest' Antoniy Lysenko, attempted to cut the locks off the church doors, threatening to 'see through to the end' the criminal act he had begun," the statement added.

The Cherkasy Diocese reported that "thanks to the courage and solidarity of the parish community, the seizure was stopped."

Earlier, local residents at a meeting held in the village club of Irkliev had "transferred" the church to the OCU.

As sources in the village recounted, "at the assembly, one of the women — a representative of the 'religious community' at the sham vote — did not know where she had come from or why, but wanted 'everything to be done by the law.'"

The UOC faithful in Irkliev remained loyal to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy.

(Source: UOJ)

🔴On August 10, 2023, OCU representatives forcibly seized the Trinity Church of the UOC.

The seizure took place at 3 a.m., during the active curfew period. About 30 outside raiders — mainly people in military uniform and OCU clerics — used hammers, sledgehammers, and angle grinders to break down the cathedral's main entrance door and the side entrance to the altar.

They burst into the church, pushing aside a small group of clerics and parishioners who had been keeping watch there. The church's defenders had their mobile phones — which they were using to take photos and videos — taken away from them. In the process, cathedral cleric Protopriest Ioan Lavryshyn sustained bodily injuries.

The press service of the Cherkasy Diocese of the UOC notes that the Trinity community, aware of a possible attack, had asked the authorities and law enforcement of Cherkasy Oblast to protect the cathedral, but they "displayed open inaction, ignoring the requests." A police unit arrived at the scene only after the church had already been seized.

The parish rector, Archbishop John of Zolotonosha, along with the clerics and parishioners who built the Trinity Cathedral, announced their intention to defend their rights in court.

(Source: UOJ)