In Bakhtyn, UOC community prays in converted house on St. Nicholas feast

Bakhtyn: UOC parishioners and clergy near the house temporarily converted into a church. Photo: Facebook of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos Church

On August 11, 2025, on the Feast of the Nativity of St. Nicholas, the persecuted community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Bakhtyn, Vinnytsia region, held a congregational Divine Liturgy in a residential house adapted for religious purposes. This is reported on the Facebook page of the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos.

The service was led by the dean of the Murovani Kurylivtski district, Archpriest Vasyl, concelebrated by the clergy of the deanery. The community's rector is Archpriest Ihor Klos. Before the service began, an akathist to St. Nicholas was read.

Photos published on the church's page capture the service outside the church: parishioners and clergy gathered at a small one-story house with a slate roof without a cross. The service took place inside in a modestly decorated room temporarily adapted as a prayer space: there are icons on the walls, the liturgy was performed at the lectern; children and adults prayed with candles. Despite persecution and the inaccessibility of their own church, the faithful continue to unite, arrange adapted prayer houses, and celebrate church feasts.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that in Zabolottia, the Chernivtsi hierarch celebrated the church feast with the persecuted community.

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