Chernihiv RSA reports on seizure of 37 UOC churches in favor of OCU

The building of the Chernihiv RSA, which announced the transition of 37 parishes from the UOC to the OCU. Photo: raskolamnet

On August 7, 2025, the Chernihiv Regional State Administration reported that since 2019, around 40 parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have been re-registered to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the region. This was reported by the publication CheLine.

According to the Chernihiv RSA, 37 confessional transitions have been officially completed to date, with another 4 under consideration.

"Perhaps these transitions are not as numerous as we would like, but this is already a matter for the religious communities," stated the head of the Department for Nationalities and Religions, Oleksiy Stepanenko. He clarified that 37 communities submitted a full package of documents, received the order from the head of the Regional State Administration, and entered the data into the state register.

The official also noted that four more document packages have been submitted and are under review. According to him, adding these parishes to the list of re-registered ones is a matter of a few weeks.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that in Kyselivka, a UOC cleric, along with the community, joined the OCU, justifying the transition to Dumenko's structure by stating that Russia is at war with Ukraine, and clerics of the Russian Orthodox Church bless ballistic missiles.

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