In Bukovynian village of Banyliv-Pidhirny, two UOC temples "join" OCU

The Ascension Church of the UOC in the village of Banyliv-Pidhirny, Chernivtsi region. Photo: Facebook

On May 4, 2025, in the village of Banyliv-Pidhirny, Chernivtsi region, OCU followers, with the support of local authorities, held a territorial assembly during which they "transferred" two UOC churches to the structure of Epifaniy Dumenko. The news about this illegal raid was shared on Facebook by the notorious "chaplain" of the OCU, Roman Hryshchuk.

The temples in question are the Ascension of the Lord and Holy Spirit Churches of the UOC.

According to Hryshchuk, these two Orthodox communities "voted at their assembly to leave the Moscow Patriarchate."

However, in the photos and videos shared by Hryshchuk, it is clear that the meeting took place not in the churches but in the square, and the actual parishioners of the mentioned churches did not participate in the gathering.

As reported by the UOJ, Epifaniy Dumenko, the head of the OCU, awarded his Bukovynian cleric Roman Hryshchuk, who had been involved in the nighttime breaking into the St. Nicholas Church of the UOC in Verkhni Stanivtsi, as well as organizing fraudulent church transfers from the UOC to the OCU.

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