Persecuted UOC parish in Tovtry performs reading of Great Penitential Canon
Another Bukovynian community, deprived of its church, continues Great Lent services in an adapted facility.
On February 25, 2026, the religious community of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos in the village of Tovtry of the Zastavna Deanery of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Eparchy of the UOC performed the reading of the third part of the Great Canon of Repentance by Saint Andrew of Crete. This was reported by a UOJ correspondent.
The service took place in a room arranged by the faithful for prayer.
The reading of the Great Canon was led by the parish rector – Archpriest Oleksandr Shtefanytsa.
As UOJ reported, on May 18, 2019, supporters of the OCU seized the UOC temple in Tovtry, cutting off the locks. Police representatives formed a human chain to the door of the Dormition church, pushing back the believers, and let OCU supporters inside. At the beginning of the war, the UOC Orthodox community helped accommodate children from the city of Voznesensk, Mykolaiv region.
