Kerstentsi community holds first Liturgy in private house after seizure
A Liturgy of the persecuted community in Kerstentsi. Photo: UOJ
On October 12, 2025, the first Liturgy of the Transfiguration community of the UOC took place in Bukovynian Kerstentsi after their church was seized by OCU raiders, the community reports to the UOJ.
The Liturgy attended by 40 parishioners was held in a private house. Thus, the community was without services for about two weeks.
On September 29, 2025, supporters of the OCU, led by the notorious raider from Hlyboka, seized the Transfiguration Church. Hryshchuk was accompanied by OCU chaplains and police officers. Law enforcement blocked the entrance to the village that day.
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that on February 28, 2025, the parishioners of the church, led by the rector Archpriest Volodymyr Tymofeev, held a vote on their church affiliation. All 250 parishioners present voted to remain in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the leadership of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.
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