"Witch hunt": Persecution of remaining UOC parishes continues in Lviv region

The Lviv Regional Administration, with the support of the UGCC, the OCU, radical activists and local media, continues to harass the three remaining religious communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the region. The Lviv Regional State Administration is looking for places where UOC believers gather, violating the right to private property and privacy of Ukrainian citizens. This time, Suspilne.Lviv published the personal data and addresses of residents of the Lviv region, whom the media suspect of organizing secret services in private homes.

“As of early November, three religious communities in the Lviv region remain officially affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate. This was reported to Suspilne in response to an information request from the regional department for culture, nationalities and religions. These communities are officially registered in Lviv, Radekhiv and Sosnivka,” — the publication reports.

The journalists visited all three settlements and interviewed local residents about whether the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church hold secret meetings at the specified addresses.

“Anatoly Garasevich, a resident of Radekhiv, lives in a house adjacent to the site where the UOC church is located. The man says that there have been no services there for about six months, and now everything is closed. Anatoliy notes that it is symbolic that the church where they prayed for Putin is located on Myru Street,” — Suspilne added.

In addition, Lviv journalists also visited Lviv and Sosnivka, where they wanted to get a comment from the owners of residential and commercial premises who are suspected of providing their real estate for the gathering of UOC believers.

“Another such community, according to the regional department for culture, nationalities and religions, is registered in Sosnivka. But there is an apartment building at this address. And the address of the community is one of the apartments. The door was not opened to Suspilne’s correspondents. It was also impossible to contact the owners. Neighbors who live nearby say that services are not held there. Now a priest lives there, and before that — a family of parishioners of the UOC-MP,” — the media reported.

We recall that on October 3, 2024, a territorial meeting was held in the village of Vidniv, Lviv region, on the issue of the confessional affiliation of the local church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The result of the event was the “transfer” — and in fact, the seizure — of the said church and the religious community of the UOC to the ownership of the OCU.