Seized St. Alexander Nevsky Church in Odesa will be renamed, OCU rep says

Raiders of the UOC church in Odesa. Photo: Orobets' Facebook page

Theodore Orobets, a cleric of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) in Odesa, has announced that his organization intends to rename the St. Alexander Nevsky Church, which was seized from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) on June 23, 2026.

Orobets published a video showing a group of unidentified men walking across the church grounds and entering the building. He claimed that the people entering the church were the “real parishioners,” describing them as “our veterans, priests, and chaplains returning to their church.”

He further stated that the church “will henceforth be dedicated to St. Agapitus of the Kyiv Caves.”

In another video filmed inside the church, Orobets expressed indignation over a fresco depicting the Royal Passion-Bearers, as well as St. Andrew Bogolyubsky and St. Dmitry Donskoy. “Not a single one of ours,” a voice can be heard saying off camera.

According to Orobets, the church also contains icons of St. Matrona of Moscow and St. Xenia of St. Petersburg, which he described as “markers of Moscow’s religious life.”

Deacon Andrii Palchuk, spokesman for the Odesa Eparchy of the UOC, stated that what occurred was a straightforward seizure of a shrine by people who had no connection to the parish. According to him, the individuals involved in the takeover assaulted the secretary of the Odesa Diocese during the incident.

As the UOJ previously reported, an attempt was underway in Odesa to seize a UOC church.

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