UOC-KP appoints leader to manage communities in Czech Republic

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) has expanded its influence in Europe by appointing a hierarch to lead its communities in the Czech Republic. The new “patriarchal vicar” in the city of Teplice was Yevhen Sigismund Freimann, who was later officially elevated to the rank of “Bishop of Teplice.”

The appointment took place on April 25, 2026, and the very next day a “consecration” was held, led by the head of the UOC-KP, Nikodim, and “Bishop Yevhen of Boryspil.” Yevhen Sigismund Freimann previously served as the abbot of the Monastery of Saints Constantine and Helen in Teplytsia, which has now become part of the Kyiv Patriarchate. This decision was the result of an appeal by an initiative group of believers from the Czech Republic, who on April 16 officially recognized the jurisdiction of Nikodim, motivating their move by the desire of the Ukrainian diaspora to maintain unity with the UOC-KP.

Despite the personnel changes, the organization’s activities in the Czech Republic face serious legal challenges. There is no record of the UOC-KP in the official register of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, which records legitimate religious communities.

As reported, on April 16, 2026, the head of the UOC-KP, Nikodim Kobzar , officially accepted a group of clergy and religious from the Czech Republic into the Kyiv Patriarchate. The Czech vicariate of the UOC-KP includes 10 parishes of the Ukrainian schism, formed in the Czech Republic in different years of the structure’s existence.