Supreme court sends Kremenchuk UOC church “transfer” case back for review

Dormition Church of the UOC in Kremenchuk. Photo: Kremenchuk Gazeta

On July 29, 2026, the Supreme Court partially upheld a cassation appeal in the case concerning the unlawful re-registration of the Holy Dormition UOC community in Kremenchuk into the OCU structure and sent the case back to the appellate court for a new hearing, Kremenchuk Gazeta reports.

The lawsuit was filed by the rector of the UOC Dormition parish, Archimandrite Iosif (Bohaichyk). He asked the court to invalidate the decision adopted at a meeting on July 1, 2024, to change the community’s jurisdiction, overturn the Poltava Regional Military Administration’s order registering the new charter, and declare the amended charter itself invalid.

Archimandrite Iosif argued that the decision to “transfer” the parish had been made by people who were not members of the UOC religious community and that the meeting had been held without the required quorum. Following the parish’s re-registration, the rector was effectively denied access to the church and prevented from holding services there.

In September 2025, the Commercial Court of Kyiv dismissed the lawsuit. However, in April 2026, the Northern Commercial Court of Appeal overturned that ruling and sided with the UOC community, finding that the defendants had failed to prove that those who took part in the vote were members of the parish.

The Supreme Court overturned the appellate ruling and sent case No. 910/14325/24 back for a new hearing, without issuing a final decision on whether the “transfer” was lawful.

Judge Volodymyr Studenets issued a dissenting opinion, arguing that the appellate court’s findings invalidating both the meeting minutes and the community’s new charter should have been upheld.

As the UOJ previously reported, OCU activists in Kremenchuk called the Territorial Recruitment Center to a service attended by the persecuted UOC community.

Read also