OCU plans a church raid following provocation at soldier’s funeral
Meeting in Komarivtsi. Photo: Roman Hryshchuk
On January 19, 2025, supporters of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) transferred the Dormition Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in the village of Komarivtsi, Chernivtsi region, to their jurisdiction.
UOJ sources report that several activists held a meeting in the square in front of the local administrative building. Roman Hryshchuk, an OCU chaplain and one of the initiators of the takeover, announced the event.
A total of 146 people voted for the transfer. The church community refused to participate in the vote.
The seizure was preceded by events on January 17, when OCU representatives demanded access to the church to conduct ceremonies related to the funeral of a local resident and soldier, Pavlo Unguryan, claiming this was his expressed wish.
The UOC priest agreed and provided the church for the service. However, during the funeral, OCU supporters provoked hostility toward the UOC clergy and parishioners, leading to a verbal conflict. This incident was later used to justify organizing a meeting and voting “for the transfer to the OCU”.
As the UOJ previously reported, the incident in Komarivtsi is another episode in a pattern employed by OCU representatives to discredit the UOC and seize churches.
Read also
Head of Germany’s largest media group: We must all become Zionists
The media executive urged Europeans to defend the Jewish state in order to preserve their own freedom and security.
Church сonsecrated after restoration in Zaporizhzhia Eparchy of UOC
Metropolitan Luke of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol performed the rite of great consecration and celebrated the first Liturgy in the renovated church.
Sand for construction of Yermak’s residence brought from cemetery, MP says
MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak said that sand illegally removed from a cemetery in Ukrainka was used in the construction of the elite Dynasty cooperative in Kozyn.
Italian court recognizes family with three parents as legal
In Bari, the appellate court ordered authorities to register an adoption according to which a child is listed as having two "fathers" and one mother.
Archaeologists discover biblical Bethsaida on shore of Sea of Galilee
Researchers have discovered a first-century residential house beneath the apse of a Byzantine church and a mosaic inscription mentioning the Apostle Peter.
Israeli soldiers receive jail terms for mocking statue of the Virgin Mary
Those involved in the act of sacrilege in the village of Debel will spend several weeks behind bars for desecrating a statue of the Mother of God.