His Beatitude's fellow villagers share thoughts on his passport deprived
"This is wrong. Did he commit a crime?" asks a parishioner of the UOC in response to the question about the deprivation of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Ukrainian citizenship. «Suspilne Chernivtsi» journalists went to the village of Korytne in Bukovyna, where the Primate of the UOC was born, to find out what people there think about the situation.
"He is a kind, humble, and decent person. He tried to aid the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And how could he live in Ukraine and have Russian citizenship? I think something is wrong here," says Vasylyna Ravliuk, a Korytne resident and a UOC parishioner.
Even those who identify themselves as supporters of the OCU formulated their answers with reservations.
"If a person is not pro-Ukrainian, does not support Ukraine, then this decision is correct," said Tetiana Sydor, an OCU parishioner, starting her answer with the word "if".
Hryhoriy Melnychuk, a Berezhonka resident and an OCU parishioner, also began to reason with "if". "If he (Metropolitan Onuphry, – Ed.) has both Ukrainian and Russian citizenship, then I condemn him, because according to the law, this is not allowed," he said.
The churchwarden of the OCU temple in the village of Berezhonka Dmytro Tkachuk recalled the father of His Beatitude, Archpriest Volodymyr Berezovsky. "He served here for about 18 years. Almost a whole generation grew up with his service here. People remember him," said Tkachuk.
As the UOJ wrote, the entire Orthodox world is with you – Bancheny Monastery supported His Beatitude.
