DESS: The number of communities joining OCU in 2024 is half of last year’s

The domes of the church. Photo: Glavcom

According to the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), in 2024, 232 religious communities moved from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the OCU. This information was published by religious scholar Andriy Smirnov, who made such a request to DESS.

In total, from 2022 to 2024, 1,200 parishes joined the OCU. According to DESS, in 2022, 496 communities changed their canonical affiliation, and in 2023 – 471.

As reported by the UOJ, the media showed the conditions in which persecuted Volyn communities have to pray.

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