In Novokostiantyniv, territorial community transfers UOC church to OCU

Meeting of the territorial community in Starokostiantyniv. Photo: Khmelnytskyi Eparchy

On January 25, 2025, in the village of Novokostiantyniv, Khmelnytskyi district (Letychiv Deanery), a meeting of the territorial community was held, during which the Holy Dormition Church was transferred to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), reports the press service of the Khmelnytskyi Eparchy.

Despite the decision of the active religious community of the Holy Dormition Church in Novokostiantyniv, which, together with its rector, Archpriest Vadym Vus, expressed their desire to remain part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) under the omophorion of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, the local territorial community held a meeting where an unlawful decision was made to transfer the UOC religious community to the OCU.

The diocese stated that the initiators of this meeting were Oleksandr Chernievych, a deputy of the Khmelnytskyi District Council, and Volodymyr Smutko, the director of the local nursing home for people with disabilities and the elderly.

The Khmelnytskyi Eparchy intends to challenge these illegal actions in court. They also hope that these actions, which contradict Ukrainian law, will have the appropriate legal consequences.

As the UOJ previously reported, in the village of Mytyntsi in the Khmelnytskyi district, representatives of the OCU are once again attempting to forcibly evict UOC Archpriest Oleh Tsaruk's family with four children from their home.

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