"He didn't even last a year": The Ukrainian Orthodox Church—Kyiv Patriarchate defrocked a clergyman who had defected to the organization from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine

The Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church—Kyiv Patriarchate announced strict disciplinary measures against two clergymen, defrocking them and excommunicating them from the Eucharist. The decisions were made based on reports of systematic violations of church canons and discipline. Among those sanctioned was the notorious chaplain Yaroslav Kulik (Yasenets), who defected to the “Kyiv Patriarchate” from the OCU in October 2025. This was reported by , the press service of the UOC-KP.

Yaroslav Kulik (Yasenets), a cleric of the Kyiv Diocese of the UOC-KP, was stripped of "all degrees of the priesthood." According to official reports, Kulik is accused of actions aimed at undermining the structure of the UOC-KP, as well as publicly discrediting the organization. In addition, he is charged with the unauthorized conferral of church awards, holding religious events with representatives of other faiths—which is prohibited by church rules—and promoting occult practices, including collaboration with individuals engaged in fortune-telling and witchcraft.

At the same time, the non-regular cleric “Archimandrite” Yuri (Mosenkis) has also been stripped of all priestly ranks. The reason was the clergyman’s attempt to arbitrarily assume the “episcopal title,” which constitutes a gross violation of church hierarchy and canon law.

As a reminder, Yaroslav Yasenets, who had previously announced his departure from the OCU, recorded a series of video messages totaling more than two hours in length, in which he detailed the reasons for his decision, citing both personal disagreements with the leadership headed by Epiphany Dumenko and what he considers to be systemic shortcomings of the OCU, which he described as “a Renovationist structure that has run its course.”