Internal conflict in OCU: cleric "banned from ministry" for attempting to change diocese

An internal conflict in the OCU erupts in the Rivne region. on February 22, 2026, the head of the Rivne-Volyn OCU, Gabriel Kryzyna, signed a decree banning the rector of St. George’s Church in Kostopol, Pavel Sabara, from the priesthood. The reason for this was the «priest’s» attempt to transfer to another diocese, which caused active indignation of the parishioners who voted for such a transfer.

According to the press service of the Rivne-Volyn Diocese of the OCU, the decree banning Pavel Sabara states that he «violated the priestly oath, as well as the 39th and 55th Apostolic Canons.» In response, the parishioners of St. George’s community expressed their dissatisfaction with the decree, stating in the comments that the community held a meeting and voted to transfer to the neighboring Rivne diocese.

Gavriil Kryzyna, commenting on the situation in one of the Telegram channels, called Pavel Sabara a «separatist.» He emphasized that Sabara had not approached him about the transfer. Kryzyna’s comments also suggest that Sabara, in his opinion, mistakenly believed that his parish had been under the jurisdiction of the UAOC rather than the OCU until recently. Kryzyna also noted: «For your understanding: before the Tomos, transfers from the UAOC to the UOC-KP (and vice versa) were almost weekly, because no Letter of Absolution was required; but now NO! The parishes of the former UAOC are out of the picture, as if they are not on planet Earth.»

In addition, Kryzyna assured that «there are no misunderstandings with Metropolitan Hilarion (there are two dioceses of the OCU within the Rivne region),» and confirmed that Archpriest Pavel Sabara was not accepted into the Rivne Diocese of the OCU.

Earlier we reported that Gabriel Kryzyna banned the 26-year-old abbot of the Holy Trinity Monastery of the OCU in the village of Balashivka, Rivne district, Rivne region, from ministry. As reported in the published decree, «hieromonk» Nikolai Vasevich was punished for his unwillingness to carry out religious activities, regular lies and failure to comply with the orders of Gabriel Kryzyna.