As of today, about 1,500 churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have been seized, - Holy Synod

The Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, held on April 10, 2024, considered the issue of violations of the rights and freedoms of citizens of Ukraine in the sphere of religion. The Synod drew attention to the fact that over the past few years, in favor of the OCU, more than 1500 churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have been seized and re-registered. This is reported on the official website of the UOC.

“In addition, the text of the Statement of the Synod was adopted, which reflects the position of the Church regarding the violation of the rights to freedom of religion of believers and religious organizations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In particular, the Statement notes that bishops, priests and laypeople of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are subjected to criminal persecution on spurious grounds. Temples and other property are taken away, and religious communities are illegally re-registered in favor of the newly formed Orthodox Church of Ukraine. As of today, about one and a half thousand churches have already been seized. Local governments make illegal decisions to prohibit the use of property by religious organizations of our Church”, – said a permanent member of the Synod of the UOC Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich).

We shall remind you that earlier we reported that the Supreme Court of Ukraine recognized the procedure of “transition” of UOC communities to the PCU as legal. The issue was considered on the example of the Holy Protection religious community of the UOC in the village of Kalinovka in Zhytomyr region, where the UOC church was seized by supporters of the OCU in 2019. The seizure took place according to the standard scheme: a territorial community meeting, voting (voting contrary to the provisions of the community’s Charter) and raiding the temple. It was this procedure that the Supreme Court considered legal.