Dumenko “consecrates” church seized from UOC in Pischane

Epifaniy Dumenko at the "consecration" of the UOC church, Photo: screenshot from the OCU's webiste

On November 30, 2025, the head of the OCU, Serhii Dumenko, “consecrated” the Trinity Church in the village of Pischane, Cherkasy region – a church that had been “transferred” from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in March 2025, according to the OCU.

In the statement released by Dumenko’s press service, the fact of the forced “transfer” is omitted, and the information is presented as though the parish had built the church while already belonging to the OCU.

Sources within the Trinity community of Pischane told UOJ that construction began in 2013 under the rector, Fr. Liubomyr Malechkovych. The project was financed by the agricultural company “Mayak” headed by its director, Mykola Semenovych Vasylenko.

According to parishioners, an agreement had been made between the UOC’s Trinity community and the agricultural company: in exchange for using an adapted temporary space for worship, the company would build a new church.

Believers say the company swiftly took control of the parish’s financial accounts, which led to repeated conflicts between the rector and the company’s management. Nevertheless, Vasylenko himself had publicly stated that the church was being built specifically for the UOC community.

Once the church was nearly completed and a new rector, Fr. Dionisii Dovhanovskyi, had been appointed, many UOC hierarchs visited the new sanctuary – including Metropolitan Pavlo of Vyshhorod. Services were already being held in the new church.

Yet in 2025, under pressure from the authorities, Vasylenko decided to “transfer” the Trinity Church to the OCU. The parish itself, however, refused to follow and continues its liturgical life in a repurposed facility.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that in Tomashpil, the OCU demanded access to a church belonging to the UOC.

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