Romanian Church draws attention to threat of seizure of Romanian-speaking parishes of UOC by supporters of OCU

The abbot of the Putna Monastery of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Archimandrite Melchizedek, has announced the threat of seizure of several Romanian-speaking parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Bukovyna by supporters of the OCU. On February 16, 2025, during a sermon, the archimandrite said that the parishes of the UOC in Storozhynets and Hlyboka, Chernivtsi region, are to be “taken away and transferred to another structure.” This was reported by First Cossack.

“I ask you to remember the priests, hierarchs from the Chernivtsi Metropolis and all Orthodox Romanian priests from the Chernivtsi region, and not only. If recently, a few months ago, a few weeks ago, the persecution of the canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine did not affect Romanian parishes, now they have begun to hit Romanian parishes as well. Today, now, not a single service is held in Romanian, I do not know if the Liturgy is held there,” – Archimandrite Melchizedek noted.

As reported, on August 27, 2024, the Chernivtsi City Council decided to transfer the Three Saints’ Church-Tomb of the Bukovinian Metropolitans to the Romanian-speaking parish of the UOC to the OCU. The city council made this decision “to free it from the destructive influence of Russia.”

Later it became known that the city authorities of Chernivtsi had to justify themselves to the Romanian Consul General, as the Romanian government became interested in this conflict. The Chernivtsi City Council promised that representatives of the OCU would hold religious events in the said church also in Romanian.

In turn, the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Daniel of Romania , called on the Romanian government to influence the Ukrainian authorities in connection with the scandal over the Three Saints’ Church, the tomb of the Bukovinian metropolitans of the Romanian-speaking parish of the UOC of Chernivtsi, which the city authorities sealed and transferred to the OCU. Patriarch Daniel believes that such actions of the Chernivtsi city authorities are pressure on the Orthodox Romanians of Bukovyna.