A sought-after priest from the UOC-MP in Transcarpathia is hiding in the Czech Republic.

Fedir Holodnyak attempted to smuggle six men across the border.

https://zaxid.net/rozshukuvaniy_svyashhennik_upts_mp_iz_zakarpattya_perehovuyetsya_u_chehiyi_n16007292024-12-29 10:36:33

The priest of the Khust Diocese of the UOC-MP, Fedir Holodnyak, who was apprehended while attempting to smuggle six draft evaders abroad, is currently in hiding in the Czech Republic. This was reported on December 28 by the Religious Information Service of Ukraine, citing the Czech news site Seznam Zprávy.

The head of the Orthodox Church of St. Catherine in the Czech town of Milovice confirmed to journalists that Fedir Holodnyak is currently in the Czech Republic and occasionally even conducts services.

“We don’t like that he is here, but Archbishop Michal Dandar sent him, and I can’t do anything about it,” said priest Volodymyr Felkan.

According to the Czech publication, the Prague archbishop of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, Michal Dandar (a former StB agent-inspector, the Czechoslovak equivalent of the Soviet KGB), facilitated the relocation of dozens of priests belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate from Ukraine to the Czech Republic.

As previously informed by ZAXID.NET, in August of this year, a priest from the Khust Diocese of the UOC-MP, Fedir Holodnyak, was detained at a checkpoint while attempting to illegally transport six men across the border in a Volkswagen Transporter van.

A criminal proceeding has been initiated under Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine for the illegal smuggling of draft evaders abroad. Additionally, an administrative protocol was drawn up against the priest under Article 185-10 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses (gross disobedience to law enforcement officers). However, as noted by the Religious Information Service of Ukraine, Fedir Holodnyak escaped during a medical examination.

At the time of his detention, the archpriest was the head of the UOC-MP community of the Introduction to the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos in the village of Torun, part of the Mizhhirya community in the Khust district. Currently, he is not mentioned on the website of the Khust Diocese of the UOC-MP.