In Bukovyna, 16 parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church “transferred” to the OCU

Since the beginning of 2025, 16 communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have been re-registered in the Chernivtsi region in favor of the OCU. The Chernivtsi Regional State Administration noted that since 2025, all requests for registration of the new version of the statutes of religious organizations have been satisfied. This is reported by Ukrinform.

“From the beginning of 2025 to the present, 16 religious communities of the region have held meetings to change their canonical subordination, as a result of which they confirmed the transition from the UOC to the OCU,” – the Chernivtsi Regional State Administration informed.

They also noted that as of March 7, they had already issued an order to register the statutes of religious organizations in a new version (transition from the UOC to the OCU) for 13 religious communities. In particular, four religious communities in Chernivtsi, two communities in the village of Hlyboka and one each in the city of Zastavna and the villages of Komarivtsi, Dubove, Maliatyntsi, Dubivtsi, Ust-Putyla and Pidzakharychi were registered with the OCU.

Earlier, the Chernivtsi Regional State Administration reported that they had no mechanisms for monitoring the legitimacy of the so-called transitions of religious communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the OCU. According to Olena Bodnar, the head of the Department of Culture of the Chernivtsi Regional State Administration, the RSA does not check whether the meeting actually took place and what decisions were made. The administration only needs the participation of the so-called head of the meeting, who must send the necessary package of documents to the RSA.