On the situation in the OCU in the Kharkiv region. We learned that the Kharkiv-Poltava eparchy of the UAOC-OCU had prepared an appeal to OCU head Epiphany on the “conspiracy in the Kharkiv Deanery. The document tells about the deanery meeting held on March 23 in St. Nicholas Church in the village of Tsirkuny by Dean Stanislav Ashtrafian of the Kharkiv Epiphany with the aim of transferring to the Kharkov deanery. Mitrofan Butynsky (formerly in the UOC-KP) It is alleged that the initiators of the event – Stanislav Ashtrafyan, Oleg Kozubov and Dmitry Shapovalov – having organized the meeting, “deliberately granted the event an official status.”
Supporters of Athanasius Shkurupiy, referring to the head of the OCU, write about a split in the diocese, which can spread outside the Church, and ask to create a joint commission, which should assess “all the actors of the rebellion” and resolve the conflict. They argue that Stanislav Ashtrafyan appealed to various clergymen for six months with a proposal to move to the Kharkov eparchy, but received humorous answers and refusals, in particular, from his pupil Yuri Potykun (for which the latter was appointed a new dean).
That is, fathers Stanislav, Oleg and Dmitry are charged not with their desire to change the diocese, but with the fact that they allegedly incited others to do the same. It is for the confirmation or refutation of this that the commission will break spears if it is created.
Earlier, the clergy, whom Athanasius Shkurupiy was banned from serving because of his participation in the revolt of non-fulfillment of the decree on transferring to other parishes, argued in their letter to Dumenko that there were no unauthorized meetings of the deanery, and on March 23 in s. Circuny, only the sacrament of unction took place, after which the aforementioned fathers informed the rest of those present about their intentions to go under the omophorion of Mitrofan. They say that no one announced the meeting, kept minutes, no votes took place and no decisions were made.
By the way, opponents of the change of subordination remind that Stanislav Ashtrafyan and Oleg Kozubov previously belonged to the UAOC (o) Igor Isichenko. Say, it was their own choice, to which of the bishops of the OCU to join, and Athanasius, taking care of them, satisfied their request.
However, supporters of the transition to Mitrofan note that part of the parishioners of St. Nicholas Church with. Tsirkuny, who mends a split in the community, is also former parishioners of the St. Demetrius Church of the UAOC (o) in Kharkov, but they followed Afanasy Shkurupiy and Ivan Polezhaka.