TRC illegally detains 59-year-old rector of UOC church in Rivne region
Archpriest Pavlo Stepaniuk, rector of the Presentation Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Zalavie, Ostrozhets community, Dubno district, Rivne region, was mobilized by officers of the Mlyniv Territorial Recruitment Center. This was reported by the Rivne Eparchy of the UOC.
According to the eparchy, on July 16, 2026, the clergyman, born in 1967, was detained by TRC officers and subsequently mobilized.
The eparchy noted that Father Pavlo had documents confirming the need to provide constant care for his sick mother. In the view of eparchy representatives, these circumstances should have been taken into account when the decision was made.
“We hope that all the circumstances of this case will be thoroughly examined and that decisions will be made strictly within the law and with due consideration of all the documents provided,” the Rivne Eparchy said in a statement.
The UOJ previously reported that TRC officers abducted a priest of the Oleksandriia Eparchy in Kryvyi Rih.
Read also
National Memory Institute head: Pantheon is not about "collecting relics"
Authorities have limited the number of future burials in the Pantheon to several dozen people.
Poland's president vetoes same-sex marriage laws
The Polish president blocked civil partnership legislation in order to protect the constitutional status of the family.
Sumy UOC cathedral damaged in shelling
The Transfiguration Cathedral of the Sumy Eparchy came under fire on July 17.
Yelensky briefs World Council of Churches on law banning UOC
The head of Ukraine’s State Service for Ethnopolitics told a World Council of Churches delegation that the law does not burden the conscience of UOC believers.
TRC illegally detains 59-year-old rector of UOC church in Rivne region
Archpriest Pavlo Stepaniuk was taken away by TRC officers despite having documents confirming that he provides constant care for his sick mother.
Epifaniy wears vestments once belonging to John of Kronstadt – OCU cleric
Dumenko appropriated vestments that had previously belonged to Filaret Denysenko.