New Wave of Pressure on UOC Monasteries and Communities in Rivne Region

The Rivne Regional Council continues its policy of administrative pressure on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Its latest move was an appeal by local deputies to the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, demanding that five religious organizations in the region be inspected for alleged “affiliation” with the Russian Orthodox Church. This was reported by the regional news portal ogo.ua.

The list submitted to the State Service includes:

Korets Holy Trinity Women’s Stavropegial Monastery (Korets),

Holy Trinity Men’s Monastery (Mezhyrich),

St. George’s Parish in Dubno,

Holy Trinity Women’s Monastery (Dermanka Druha),

St. Nicholas Women’s Monastery (Horodok) and its metochion in Rivne.

The Rivne Regional Council has called on all local communities in the region to join the process of inspecting religious organizations.

It should also be noted that the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine’s Rivne Diocese, Ilarion Protsyk, has called on the clergy and believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Rivne Region to “truly break away from Moscow” and join the Ukrainian schism. According to Protsyk, the UOC’s Council held in Feofania in 2022 only introduced cosmetic changes to its Statute, while the Church remained subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate.