Metropolitan Theodosius visited the Zolotonosha community deprived of their church

On April 26, 2025, on Bright Saturday, Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy and Kaniv visited the community of the Dormition Cathedral in Zolotonosha, which has been forced to worship in a temporary facility for over six months. This was reported by the press service of the Cherkasy Diocese.

It should be recalled that on September 2, 2024, supporters of the OCU blocked the street in front of the cathedral and, under cover of night, forcibly seized the church. The parishioners, together with their rector, Archpriest Serhiy Snopko, had to arrange a temporary place for services.

The Feast of Christ’s Resurrection in 2025 was especially significant for the community — for the first time in many months, the faithful celebrated Easter in a new, albeit temporary, place of worship.

On Bright Saturday, Metropolitan Theodosius led the Divine Liturgy, concelebrated with local clergy. For the spiritual consolation of the faithful, a reliquary containing a particle of the relics of the Holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon was brought. The abbess of Krasnohirsk Monastery, Igumeniya Arsenia, also prayed at the service.

During the Liturgy, the hierarch awarded clergy of the Zolotonosha deanery for their zealous service. Prayers were also offered for the health and repose of the Chernobyl disaster liquidators, as the International Chernobyl Remembrance Day coincided with Bright Saturday this year.

Metropolitan Theodosius also offered a special prayer for the repose of Archpriest Yaroslav Ivanusa — the former dean who had restored the Dormition Cathedral and whose family is now also forced to pray outside their seized churches.

At the conclusion of the service, the hierarch addressed the faithful with words of encouragement and spiritual consolation.

Earlier it was reported that the Smila City District Court approved the transfer of the “ownerless real estate” — the Protection of the Mother of God Church in the village of Teklyne, Cherkasy region — to the communal ownership of the Balakliivka village council. It is notable that this church had long been the property of a UOC religious community but was declared “ownerless” after re-registration to the OCU.