UOC cleric who sent draft dodgers abroad joins OCU

Feodor Holodniak and Viktor Bed. Photo: keuapc

On November 11, 2025, Archpriest Feodor Holodniak, previously suspended and excluded from the clergy of the Khust Eparchy of the UOC and involved in a case of illegal transportation of Ukrainian citizens abroad, joined the OCU.

Earlier, media reported that Feodor Holodniak was detained for attempting to illegally transport six men across the border and was declared wanted. At that time, some sources claimed that the Khust Eparchy of the UOC allegedly did not impose any sanctions on him.

Holodniak was accepted into the Mukachevo-Carpathian Eparchy of the OCU, headed by Bishop Viktor Bed. In the Uzhgorod residence, Bed held a meeting with him and announced the transition of the former UOC cleric to the jurisdiction of the OCU.

By a separate order, Holodniak was appointed as a clergyman of the parish of St. John the Theologian in Uzhgorod. At the end of the meeting, Viktor Bed blessed him for further service and presented him with a Bible and icons.

Earlier, the Khust Eparchy of the UOC officially reported that in August 2024, Holodniak was suspended from his pastoral duties during the investigation, and on October 24, 2024, he was excluded from the diocese's staff. Thus, the eparchy refuted the rumors spread by bloggers about his "escape to the Czech Republic" and "lack of sanctions".

On November 18, 2025, Metropolitan Mark of Khust and Vynohradiv issued a decree on the complete ban of Feodor Holodniak from priesthood for violating the priestly oath, perjury, betrayal of the Church, and falling into schism.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that in Moshny, the OCU seized the Transfiguration Church of the UOC.

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