The headman of the seized church in Bukovyna said how the parishioners were able to raise a new church and why they did not manage to get land for this for a long time.
The headman of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Bukovyna village of Boyanchuk, Dmitry Rogovik, said how the believers managed to build a temple after the seizure of their church by supporters of the OCU.
For about a year, there was no service in the village, and in the neighbouring village of Hrushevtsi people had to gather in houses to pray.
“And we didn’t even have a suitable house. They did not serve anything at all,” the headman shared his memories with the channel “Stained Glass: About Faith in Colours”. “We asked the village council to give us a place near the monument to build a temple, but they told us that they were planning to build a sports ground there, so they refused.”
According to the man, the believers were also not allowed to gather at the local chapel for Epiphany and Christmas, and someone even called the police.
“The police were near us, but did not interfere,” he recalls. “We served a prayer service on the street, not in the chapel.” After that, the believers wrote a statement to the regional state administration regarding the ban on the construction of the temple.
Soon the chairman of the village council allocated land for the church in the old cemetery. However, supporters of the OCU arrived there and “raised a cry”. “The chairman saw that people were against it, and they refused us again,” said Rogovik.
However, everything changed when Metropolitan Meletiy (Yegorenko) of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna arrived in the neighbouring village and blessed the construction of a new church there.
“I also went there and talked to Vladyka. He said that we want to build a church in our village,” recalls the headman. “Vladyka showed several places and blessed them all.”
Exactly one week later, the headman was informed that a plot appeared that could be used for construction. The man seized on this opportunity and after a short time received a construction plan.
“Vladyka came to lay the stone for the construction and said that His Beatitude knew about our situation and was very happy with the construction of a new church,” he said.
Metropolitan Meletiy also provided financial aid to the believers of the village for the church under construction.
Earlier, the hierarch of the UOC consecrated a new throne and a renovated church of the community suffered from church raiding in the village of Oshikhlebi.
