ROC’s special commission to deal with parishes in the annexed territories

Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) of the Moscow Patriarchate, said that the Moscow Patriarchate’s Office for Dioceses in the CIS countries will deal with the life of parishes in the annexed territories of Ukraine, ria.ru reports.

“By the decision of the Holy Synod of March 24, 2022, the Moscow Patriarchate’s Office for Dioceses in the Near Abroad was formed under the leadership of Metropolitan Pavel of Krutitsy and Kolomna. The dioceses on the territory of Ukraine are also in his purview,” said Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk.

The following dioceses of the UOC are located in the territories annexed by Russia: Donetsk and Mariupol, Luhansk, Horlivka and Slaviansk, Berdiansk and Prymorsk, Rovenky, Kherson and Tauride, Zaporizhia, Novokakhovka, Severodonetsk.

As previously reported by the UOJ, the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church transferred the Crimean eparchies of the UOC to the subordination of Patriarch Kirill.

Read also

Priest of Pokrovsk Vicariate of UOC killed in Kostiantynivka shelling

Archpriest Valeriy Voskresensky consciously remained at his parish in the Donetsk region, despite the constant threat of shelling.

Verkhovna Rada to consider bill on pornography decriminalization

The bill on decriminalizing pornography proposes to remove criminal liability for the production and distribution of pornography between adults.

Metropolitan Onuphry leads Liturgy at Intercession Monastery of Kyiv

On the Feast of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, the Primate of the UOC celebrated the Divine Liturgy at Saint Nicholas's Cathedral of the Intercession Monastery and offered prayers for peace in the Ukrainian land.

Persecuted community of Verkhni Stanivtsi celebrates archpastoral Liturgy

For the second year in a row, the parishioners have been celebrating their patronal feast day outside the walls of their church, which was seized by OCU supporters with police backing in April 2025.

Organizers of procession to Bancheny Monastery fined

Chernivtsi region police have drawn up administrative protocols against the organizers of the UOC pilgrimage to Bancheny Monastery.

Remains of OUN-M leader Melnyk brought to UGCC cathedral in Kyiv

The ashes of the OUN leader and his wife Sofia, who had been buried at a cemetery in Luxembourg, were brought to the UGCC cathedral.