OCU seizes UOC's Transfiguration Church in Moshny

Seizure of the Transfiguration Church in Moshny. Photo: Suspilne

On November 16, 2025, in the village of Moshny in the Cherkasy Region, OCU militants seized the ancient Transfiguration Cathedral of the UOC – the parish told UOJ. After the Sunday Liturgy, a group of men in balaclavas and yellow armbands entered the church. They had driven from a location about 20 kilometers away. Leading the group was an OCU “dean.” After UOC believers were forced out, the group of militants began inventorying the church property.

The UOC rector, Archpriest Oleh Markhylevych, was threatened and forced to sign an act of transfer of the church – although he had no authority whatsoever to do so. The Transfiguration Church is a national heritage monument and is owned by the state. In the 1990s, the UOC parish signed a “retention agreement” for the use of the church. As the eparchy’s legal department explained to UOJ, this agreement was never terminated – it was simply unlawfully ignored.

In video footage from the seized church, the masked men with yellow armbands stand at the entrance, while a woman shouts: “At last the Holy Transfiguration Church built by Count Vorontsov – ours!”

Shortly before the seizure, Suspilne Cherkasy published a report on the church situation in Moshny, showing the OCU community at a “service” on the feast of the Protection of the Mother of God. In the footage, besides the “priest,” only five people were present.

An OCU cleric claimed that the UOC community had joined his structure back in January 2024. The rector of the Transfiguration Church, Archpriest Oleh, said this was false – no meeting about a transition had ever been held. Supporters of Dumenko had simply gone door to door collecting signatures for something not explained.

The OCU admitted to journalists that “most locals still support the UOC.” What especially irritates members of Dumenko’s structure is that the UOC is attended by local intellectuals – doctors and teachers.

At the time the report aired in October 2025, the OCU assured that they would not take the church by force. Later, it appears, they changed their position.

The Transfiguration Church was built in 1839 by architect Giorgio Torricelli and was consecrated by Metropolitan Philaret of Kyiv on August 19, 1840. It belonged to the palace and park complex of Count Mikhail Vorontsov – one of the highest-ranking statesmen closest to Emperor Nicholas I.

Earlier, UOJ reported that the OCU had seized another UOC church in Cherkasy.

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