UOC priest detained by Military Recruitment Office in Ternopil Region
Archpriest Ioann Koval. Photo: Dombrovskyi’s Facebook
On the morning of June 22, 2025, in the city of Shumsk (Ternopil region), officers from the Territorial Recruitment Center (TCC), together with police, detained Archpriest Ioann Koval of the Ternopil Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, according to a Facebook post by a deacon of the Holy Spirit Skete in Pochaiv.
The priest was on his way to serve Divine Liturgy at the Dormition of the Mother of God Church in the village of Onyshkivtsi and the Protection of the Theotokos Church in the village of Bolozhivka.
The incident occurred around 7:00 a.m. By 9:00 a.m., the priest was no longer reachable, and after 3:00 p.m., his phone was completely out of network coverage. Sources report that Fr. Ioann was taken to the Shumsk branch of the TRC, where his car was later found parked nearby.
TRC representatives have not provided any information to the priest’s relatives or parishioners regarding his whereabouts. Parishioners who contacted the local TRC received no answers to their inquiries.
The church community is asking for prayers in light of the situation.
Parishioners are requesting continued prayers for their priest.
Earlier, UOJ reported that in Kremenets, the TRC also detained the abbot of the Holy Spirit Skete in Pochaiv, Archimandrite Paphnutiy.
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.