Cherkasy ruling bishop details authorities’ plan to take over UOC cathedral

Metropolitan Theodosiy outside the courthouse. Photo: Cherkasy Eparchy

Metropolitan Theodosiy of Cherkasy and Kaniv has outlined what he describes as a multistep scheme by city authorities and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) to secure legal ownership of the seized St. Michael the Archangel Cathedral in Cherkasy. The hierarch addressed believers following a hearing at the Commercial Court.

The metropolitan said the hearing, which was supposed to determine the cathedral’s future, had been postponed because neither OCU representatives nor city officials appeared. According to him, the court was scheduled to consider transferring the church to individuals and organizations that “have never had and still have no connection to it – either legally or in practice.”

Metropolitan Theodosiy recalled that the cathedral had been built through the collective efforts of the entire UOC Cherkasy Eparchy – its monasteries, parishes, parishioners, and benefactors. The late Metropolitan Sophroniy had overseen and inspired the construction project and registered ownership of the cathedral in the eparchy’s name in 2018.

The hierarch described what he called a three-step scheme to take control of the cathedral.

The first step was the Ministry of Justice’s cancellation of the ownership registration in 2024, allegedly because Metropolitan Sophroniy had made some error in the paperwork.

“Even if the registration of ownership is canceled, the ownership right itself does not disappear. The cathedral was built by the Cherkasy Eparchy of the UOC and belonged to it, and it still belongs to the Cherkasy Eparchy of the UOC,” the metropolitan emphasized.

The second step, he said, was declaring the cathedral ownerless property.

“As though these city officials had never attended services with us and had no idea who owned it. As though they had never sat with us at festive tables when it suited them. And now suddenly they don’t know whose property it is. It’s ownerless – apparently it just built itself in the park somehow,” Metropolitan Theodosiy said.

The third step involves transferring the supposedly ownerless cathedral to the city or the OCU through the Commercial Court.

“That’s the simple little scheme they’ve come up with to cover up the lawlessness of the seizure – the bloody seizure of our cathedral,” the hierarch said.

He also reported that more than 700 believers who had helped build the cathedral filed applications to join the proceedings as third parties, but the judge rejected every application.

Metropolitan Theodosiy said the eparchy would closely monitor every stage of the legal proceedings and make the developments public – both in Ukraine and, if necessary, through international channels.

As the UOJ previously reported, prosecutors in Cherkasy demanded that city authorities transfer the cathedral into municipal ownership. In their request, prosecutors acknowledged that ownership of the church had been registered to the Administration of the UOC Cherkasy Eparchy on December 10, 2018, but cited a March 2024 Ministry of Justice order canceling that registration.

St. Michael the Archangel Cathedral was seized on October 17, 2024. Men wearing camouflage and balaclavas stormed the church during a nighttime Liturgy, beat parishioners, sprayed gas, and fired traumatic weapons.

More than 10 believers were hospitalized. Metropolitan Theodosiy was diagnosed with a concussion and burns to the corneas of both eyes.

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