KCSA: Drabinko’s Cathedral in Kyiv moves to OCU only now
The Transfiguration Cathedral in Kyiv, Teremky district. Photo: pereyaslav-eparchia.kiev.ua
The Transfiguration Cathedral in Kyiv’s Teremky district, headed by OCU hierarch and former UOC Metropolitan Oleksandr Drabinko, has officially joined Dumenko’s structure. This was reported to “Vechirniy Kyiv” by Kyiv City Council deputy Viktoria Mukha on May 7, 2025.
According to her, the Transfiguration Cathedral community and the UOC parish of St. Martyr Paraskeva “made the decision to change their canonical affiliation and join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”
“Following another massive attack on Kyiv, the capital received news that inspires and strengthens faith: two more religious communities have decided to change their canonical affiliation and join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Both communities, at a general assembly, voted by majority to leave the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. The corresponding amendments to their statutes have already been officially registered,” Mukha stated.
It is noted that the first of the communities does not yet have its own church building. It is registered on Dniprovska Embankment, among new residential buildings and gas stations. However, according to available information, the Transfiguration parish does have a fully functioning church in the Teremky-II district, and “the OCU has already been conducting services in this church for some time”.
It is believed that this is not about an actual recent change in religious affiliation but rather the formal legal registration of a transition that took place earlier. Archbishop Oleksandr Drabinko, who has been ministering at this church for many years, publicly joined the newly established OCU back in 2018.
As previously reported by the UOJ, the religious communities of the Ascension and Holy Spirit Churches in the Bukovynian village of Banyliv-Pidhirny remain faithful to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. According to the website of UOC believers in the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Eparchy, media claims about these parishes’ "transfer" to the OCU are fake.
Read also
Medieval сhurch сrumbles as Culture Ministry сites missing agreement
The 14th–15th-century St. Nicholas Church in Chesnyky, Ivano-Frankivsk Region, is falling into disrepair.
Poland сondemns Lviv Regional Council's decision to declare 2007 year of UPA
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says the Lviv Regional Council's decision to dedicate 2027 to the UPA and Roman Shukhevych is harmful to Ukraine.
OCU seeks court recognition of ownership of seized Cherkasy cathedral
The Cherkasy Regional Commercial Court will hear an OCU lawsuit seeking ownership of St. Michael's Cathedral, which was seized from UOC believers.
Lithuanian bishop: Ukraine is no model for believers' rights
Vicar of Vilnius Diocese voices concern over attempts to import Ukraine's religious conflict into Lithuania.
Hundreds of believers honor St. Alexis of Carpatho-Russia in Khust Eparchy
At the St. Nicholas Monastery in the village of Iza-Karputlash, Metropolitan Mark of Khust led a festive liturgy, concelebrated by six metropolitans, five archbishops and three bishops.
Court upholds UOC parish appeal in Voloshky over OCU switch dispute
The Northern Commercial Court of Appeal has upheld the appeal of the St. Nicholas parish of the UOC in the village of Voloshky, Volyn region, in a dispute over a transfer to the OCU.