A minister of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” attacked a priest of the Rivne diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with his fists and hit him on the head. The victim turned to law enforcement agencies, removed the beatings, writes Pravlife.

The incident occurred on the evening of March 20, 2023 on the territory of the Mikhailovsky Church in the village of Shkarov, Rivne district, Rivne region. Archpriest Sergiy Suprunets, rector of the parish, learned that the temple, which, by agreement with the OCU community, was closed with two locks, is open and there are people in it.

The priest decided to find out what was going on and went to the church. There really were people there – they were cleaning, preparing for the “worship”. Seeing the rector, the supporters of the OCU began to insult and call him names, and their spiritual mentor, Viktor Gerasimchuk, hit the UOC priest in the chin and face.

According to Archpriest Sergiy, the OCU minister was ready to continue the attack, but he was dragged away by “spiritual children.”

“I shamed him with words, but what could I do, I am alone, there are many of them, the church is in the middle of the field, about one kilometer to the village,” said Archpriest Sergiy Suprunets.

When the priest returned home, his wife called the police. The victim gave evidence, and the next day, on March 21, he went to Rivne to shoot the beatings.

As noted in the Rivne diocese of the UOC, Viktor Gerasimchuk serves in the village. Mouth, but lives in Shkarov. He is one of the initiators of the church conflict in the village, which began more than a month ago.