Persecuted UOC communities celebrate Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem

Blessing of willow branches in a persecuted UOC parish. Photo: First Cossack Telegram channel

On April 5, 2026, on the feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, solemn services were held in a number of parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that had lost their churches as a result of OCU рейдер seizures. Believers from these persecuted communities marked the feast in prayer in adapted premises.

The villages of Chornohuzy and Vyzhenka (Vyzhnytsia Deanery)

Parishioners of the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in the village of Chornohuzy and the community of St. Nicholas Church in the village of Vyzhenka celebrated the feast together with their rector, Fr. Antonii Fedorashchak. In Chornohuzy, prayers were offered in rented premises, while in Vyzhenka the faithful gathered in a modular house.

Both churches were seized by supporters of Dumenko’s structure with the participation of Roman Hryshchuk. In Vyzhenka, the attackers used a staged provocation during the funeral of a serviceman to violently take the shrine from the community. In Chornohuzy, the raiders seized the shrine by cutting off the locks with an angle grinder and beat believers while police stood by and did nothing.

The village of Vaslovivtsi (Zastavna Deanery)

The persecuted community of the Dormition parish in the village of Vaslovivtsi welcomed Palm Sunday in a prayer tent. A large number of people came to the service, which eyewitnesses described as a testimony of “living faith.”

As previously reported, in October 2023, their church was seized by two dozen men in balaclavas with the support of law enforcement structures. At the same time, the authorities allegedly tried to pressure parishioners by handing out draft notices right outside the church walls.

The village of Tovtry (Zastavna Deanery)

Believers of the Holy Dormition parish in the village of Tovtry, whose church was taken from them back in 2019, also held their festal service in adapted premises. Many children were present at the liturgy.

Representatives of the OCU continue to claim that these parishes supposedly “transferred” to their jurisdiction. In reality, however, the communities remain in the bosom of the UOC, confirming that the Church is people, not walls.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that persecuted UOC communities in Bukovyna prayed during the Great Penitential Canon.

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