UOC believers in Bukovyna, whose church was taken away by OCU supporters, are forced to pray in the open air

On Sunday, March 23, 2025, more than a hundred believers of the St. Nicholas religious community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Maliatyntsi of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Eparchy of the UOC, where supporters of the OCU recently seized the church, gathered for an open-air prayer. People are not going to betray their faith, despite the fact that they have to pray in the street. This is reported on the Facebook page of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese of the UOC.

“On March 23, 2025, the day after the seizure of the church, the religious community of the UOC of the village of Malyatintsy prayed with their rector, Metropolitan Archpriest Nikolai Gubka, in the open air near the chapel in the village. More than a hundred believers gathered for the liturgy,” — the diocese reported.

Earlier, the head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, Viktor Yelensky, commented on the attempts of the Romanian Orthodox Church to open its jurisdiction in Ukraine. The official said that the OCU has already established a “Romanian vicariate,” which is supposed to include Romanian-speaking parishes in Bukovyna. In addition, in this way, the OCU hopes that the Romanian Patriarchate will recognize the Ukrainian schism.