In Medzhybizh, Met Victor of Khmelnytsky prays with persecuted UOC community

St. Nicholas the Wonderworker parish in the village of Medzhybizh. Photo: Khmelnytskyi Eparchy

On August 2, 2025, on the day of the commemoration of the Prophet of God Elijah, Metropolitan Victor of Khmelnytskyi and Starokostiantyniv celebrated the Divine Liturgy on the territory of the typical church of the Nicholas parish in the village of Medzhybizh of the Letychiv Deanery, reports the press service of the Khmelnytskyi Eparchy.

The religious community has been regularly praying in a village house adapted as a church for the second year after their church was seized by OCU supporters.

Metropolitan Victor was concelebrated by the secretary of the eparchy, Archpriest Oleksandr Rybchynskyi, the dean of the churches of the Letychiv District, Archpriest Dmytro Stetsko, the rector of the parish, Archpriest Vitalii Yasinovskyi, and the clergy of the deanery.

The village house could not accommodate all the faithful, so the service was conducted outside the house.

During the service, a special prayer was offered for the warrior-defenders of Ukraine and peace in Ukrainian land, as well as for all those affected by the war.

At the end of the service, the hierarch of the UOC thanked all the parishioners for their faithfulness to the Church of Christ and the communal festive prayer. The Metropolitan called on all present to follow the example of the Prophet of God Elijah in faithfulness to the one true God, as he did throughout his life.

As reported by the UOJ, on June 2, 2023, in Medzhybizh, a group of individuals led by Khmelnytskyi District Council deputy Oleksandr Chernievych and entrepreneur Mykhailo Blonskyi seized the St Nicholas Church of the UOC. The raiders cut off the church locks and hung their own. Earlier, the religious community at a general parish meeting decided to remain in the fold of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the leadership of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.

Read also