22 new churches of UOC built in 2021 to replace those seized by OCU

A church dome. Photo: interfax.com.ua

More than two dozen churches of the UOC were built in Ukraine in a year to make up for the seized by the OCU, 18 of the new churches have already been consecrated, reports the UOC Information and Education Department.

These data were announced at the final meeting of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Also, the Synod participants noted a decrease in the number of raider seizures of UOC churches – in 2021, seven such cases were recorded. At the same time, there were 20 cases of robberies of churches and four acts of vandalism during the year.

A number of anti-constitutional statements by representatives of local authorities and calls for refusal to attend churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are also noted. Among the negative events of the year, the Synod of the UOC noted several actions against the construction of new churches of the UOC in those "hot spots" where they had been previously seized by schismatics.

As previously reported, the UOC Synod summed up the results and named the landmark events of 2021.

Read also

Georgian Church Synod to present three candidates for Patriarchal throne

Georgian hierarchs will select candidates for the Patriarchal throne, after which the Extended Council will make the final decision.

Metropolitan Tychikos' lawyers respond to media accusations

The hierarch's lawyers called the television stories targeted harassment.

EU Court: Hungary's law protecting children from LGBT violates legislation

The European Court ruled that Hungary's ban on promoting LGBT ideology among minors contradicts "EU values".

Facts of persecution against UOC included in world's human rights report

The Amnesty International report points to pressure on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and criticism from UN experts.

Pasika activist urges believers to join Uniates if they don't want to go to OCU

Choknadiy called on UOC believers to join the Greek Catholic Church, since they refuse to join the OCU.

OCU “priest” urges SBU to punish local community head for backing UOC faithful

Volodymyr Pedko was outraged that a fallen serviceman was buried by a cleric of the canonical Church and promised to “sort things out” with the local authorities after the holidays.