Parishioner of seized UOC cathedral: The shrine transferred without our consent

A parishioner of the seized UOC cathedral in Kremenchuk. Photo: a screenshot from the YouTube channel "Suspilne. Poltava"

On June 4, 2026, representatives of the OCU seized the Holy Trinity Cathedral in the city of Kremenchuk, announcing the community's transfer to their jurisdiction following a corresponding decision by the Supreme Court. However, the actual parishioners of the church, who gathered to defend their shrine, stated that the re-registration was carried out against their will, reports "Suspilne. Poltava".

One of the parishioners of the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the UOC, Mykola Koretsky, said that the community was transferred to the OCU without taking into account the opinion of people who regularly pray in this church. "Without our permission, without our request, without the consent of all these parishioners, they held a meeting and transferred us to another parish," the believer emphasized.

Mykola noted that the seizure of the shrine began during the dark hours. According to him, unknown individuals cut the locks at night and entered the building. The parishioner added that activists who came in the morning, together with OCU "archimandrite" Theodosiy, confronted people with a fait accompli: they allegedly were no longer the lawful parishioners of their cathedral and were required to “worship other priests.”

UOC believers expressed categorical disagreement with the fact that the fate of their community was decided by outsiders. Representatives of the canonical Church stated that they would challenge their opponents' actions in the legal field by filing new lawsuits to protect their rights.

As the UOJ reported, the OCU announced the seizure of the UOC cathedral in Kremenchuk after Trinity. Then "archimandrite" Theodosiy called the eviction of believers from their church a "gesture of good will," while admitting that there is no real agreement or compromise with the UOC community. Parishioners of the Holy Trinity Cathedral had previously already had to defend it from raider seizure attempts by the OCU.

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