Hundreds attend great blessing of water in persecuted UOC community of Panka
Water blessing in the UOC house church in the village of Panka. Photo: Union of Orthodox Journalists
On January 18, 2026, hundreds of parishioners from the persecuted community of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica in the village of Panka in Bukovyna gathered for worship on the eve of Theophany, a UOJ correspondent reports. After the Divine Liturgy and Vespers, the rector served the rite of the Great Blessing of Water.
As a reminder, on April 5, 2025, in the village of Panka, supporters of the OCU carried out a violent seizure of the UOC church dedicated to the holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica.
At the same time, on February 23, 2025, a general meeting of the religious community took place in the village, attended by 595 believers. All of them unanimously reaffirmed their fidelity to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy. The minutes of that meeting were officially submitted to the Chernivtsi Regional Military Administration.
Today, the large UOC community is forced to pray in a house that cannot accommodate all the parishioners.
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Hundreds attend great blessing of water in persecuted UOC community of Panka
In the village of Panka, after the church was seized, hundreds of parishioners have been gathering for services in a makeshift space.