PCU priest saws off locks at UOC church in Zhytomyr region

In the village of Cherniavka in Zhytomyr region, a priest of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (PCU) has seized a church belonging to the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

This was reported by the Union of Orthodox Journalists (UOJ).

According to the UOJ, the PCU priest personally sawed off the locks from the church door. He claimed that the UOC community had allegedly been stripped of its rights to the building, but refused to produce any documents to support his words.

According to TASS, Ukrainian authorities have in recent years been pursuing a policy of pushing out the UOC and encouraging the transfer of its religious communities to the jurisdiction of the PCU, which was created in 2018 from two schismatic religious structures.

Local authorities are stripping the UOC of its right to lease land under its churches. With their encouragement, PCU supporters are forcibly seizing churches of the canonical church and attacking priests. Law enforcement agencies are bringing charges of state treason and other crimes against UOC priests, and sanctions are also being imposed against them.