On July 8, 2021, police searched the house where the rector of the Transfiguration of the Savior community of the UOC in the Transcarpathian town of Yasinya (Plytovaty settlement) Archpriest Ivan Tkach lives, as well as the address in the Khust district where the priest is registered. This is reported by the UOJ with reference to sources in the Yasinya deanery of the Khust diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The searches at the clergyman are connected with the fact of theft in the local church, which the OCU took for itself two years earlier. According to media reports, a 300-kilogram safe containing money and documents was stolen from the former church of the Transfiguration Community.

“It is important that at the same time in the neighboring Ivano-Frankivsk region, three churches were also robbed. The search at our cleric’s house was obviously carried out because we are now actively building a church, these days many trucks with materials were arriving. Of course, they didn’t find anything with Father Ivan,” the sources noted.

The search at the rector of the community, which at one time renounced both claims to the church and other real estate that had passed into the possession of the OCU, was perceived here as one of the methods of pressure on the parish. Obviously, the raiders do not like the fact that the believers, having lost the temple, rallied and restore their church life.

“We are building our own temple, everything is already ready to carry out interior works. At the same time, four claims were already written against us, three to the local authorities, and one to the police. They want to disrupt construction. They declare that the new church, on a private territory, will be a pretext for interfaith conflicts,” the sources commented on the situation.

Previously, the raiders blocked the abbot of Fr. Ivan the way to the chapel, provided for services by one of the believers.