In Chernivtsi, unknown individuals “transfer” three UOC churches to OCU
A vote by unidentified individuals in Chernivtsi. Photo: Ukr.net
On May 18, 2025, in Chernivtsi, a group of unidentified individuals held a vote to transfer three parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU): the Protection (Pokrova), St. Basil, and St. Seraphim parishes. This was reported by Ukr.net, citing a post from one of the OCU groups on Facebook.
Photos from the event show around thirty people gathered in an unknown office space decorated with EU and Ukrainian flags. Under the leadership of OCU clergy, they conducted an illegal vote.
Commenters in the Facebook group noted that these individuals had no connection to the actual UOC parishes.
“Interestingly, the actual parishioners of these churches didn’t take part in the vote, and no voting took place in the churches themselves. Neither the priests nor the faithful, who have attended and served in these churches for years, knew anything about this. Why spread false information?” wrote a user named Olka.
According to UOJ sources, not a single genuine parishioner of the listed UOC churches was present at the gathering. Instead, members of OCU communities, brought together by clergy affiliated with Dumenko (Epiphanius), participated in the meeting.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that in the Bukovynian town of Zastavna, a mob led by an OCU cleric seized the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos.
Read also
National Memory Institute and SBU open exhibition on UGCC liquidation
An exhibition on the repression of the Uniates has opened in the capital, while state officials search for historical parallels with the present day.
OCU "priest" “allows” parishioners to use priest’s cassock for sex games
Ruslan Usmedinsky said that using a priest’s cassock as a prop for role-playing games can strengthen relationships between couples.
Priest charged with desertion freed after faithful raise bail
Archpriest Vitaliy Agafonov, a cleric of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, has been released after bail was posted with funds raised by the faithful.
UOC clergy and laity from several eparchies donate blood for wounded soldiers
Clergy and Orthodox youth of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church donated blood for wounded military personnel.
UOC faithful in Kozelshchansk hold procession with icon of the Mother of God
Pilgrims and clergy of the Poltava Eparchy prayed at the Kozelshchansk Monastery and took part in a procession around the church with the wonderworking icon.
Hearing in Metropolitan Theodosiy’s сase postponed after “victim” no-show
A scheduled hearing at the Kyiv-Sviatoshyn Court in the case against the ruling bishop of the Cherkasy Eparchy was postponed after OCU chaplain Nazariy Zasansky failed to appear.