In the Chernihiv region, a cleric of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church defected to the schismatic group and “transferred” two villages to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine

Father Vasily Yadovchak, a cleric of the Chernihiv Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, together with local representatives of the Ukrainian schism, held a meeting on the “transfer” the Holy Dormition Religious Community of the UOC in the town of Sednev to the OCU. During the event, the priest informed residents of the village of Novoye in Chernihiv Oblast and the town of Sednev of his decision to transfer from the UOC to the OCU, while urging the faithful to make a similar decision. This was reported by , the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience.

The meeting took place on August 14, 2026. Participants emphasized that this decision had “been brewing for years,” and that Russia’s war against Ukraine “became the decisive factor that finally dispelled all internal doubts among parishioners.” According to local residents, in the village “not a single person was found who would have opposed such a transition.” At the same time, this account completely ignores the fact that the event was held immediately after the Divine Liturgy on the day commemorating the Holy Martyrs of the Maccabees, and that to support his initiative, Priest Vasily Yadovchak summoned about a dozen local clergymen from the OCU.

As noted in the source, to date, about a hundred parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in the Chernihiv region have been transferred to the OCU. In most cases, to carry out this procedure, local authorities exerted pressure on the faithful and engaged in various forms of document manipulation. There have also been reported cases of pressure being exerted on UOC clergy who transferred to the OCU under the threat of forced mobilization into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

As a reminder, it was previously reported that Archimandrite Epiphany (Rudenko), rector of the UOC’s Church of the Intercession in the village of Khmelna, had transferred to the OCU. The decision to switch was made by the clergyman immediately after his detention by employees of the Territorial Recruitment Center (TRC).