On March 20, Volodymyr Paraschuk, a benefactor of the Shepetivka District with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, shared the news that two rural parishes had decided to quit the Moscow Patriarchate.
“The ice is thawing!” Great spiritual joy in the Shepetivka denomination! The first two parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church have expressed their will to leave its jurisdiction and move to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine: the communities of Brykulia and Vyshneve,” said Volodymyr Paraschuk.
The villagers said they did not want to pray for the patriarch, who blesses Russian soldiers to kill Ukrainians and their children. “We want to pray in Ukrainian, in our native church,” said members of the religious community.
It should be recalled that in the Khmelnytsky region, priests of the UOC-MP appealed to their bishop with a request for autocephaly. Also in the Khmelnytsky region, the Archimandrite of the UOC-MP announced transition to the OCU. In addition, in Lviv region, two UOC-MP communities have joined the OCU. In particular, the abbot of the Holy Resurrection Novoafonsky Monastery (Lviv, 59a Pekarska Street), Abbot Iov Olshansky, along with the parish, left the jurisdiction of the UOC-MP and moved to the Lviv Diocese of the OCU (head of the diocese is Metropolitan Makariy Maletych).
“Our procrastination makes us Russia collaborators and agents here, but I want us to be free Orthodox Christians who glorify God, who love their state and pray for it,” said Abbot Iov Olshansky.
Earlier, the Spiritual Front of Ukaine wrote that the rector of the Holy Intercession Church in Chervonohrad, Lviv region, Archpriest Ihor Derkach, along with his parish, left the jurisdiction of the UOC-MP and moved to become part of the Lviv-Sokal Diocese of the OCU.
