Yuriy Chornomorets Assesses the Fate of UOC Parishes After the “Liquidation of the Kyiv Metropolia”

Yuriy Chornomorets outlined his predictions regarding the future of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) after the state “liquidates” the legal entity of the Kyiv Metropolia and all its subordinate structures. This concerns dioceses across regions and districts, monasteries, seminaries, and synodal administrations, which “perform the functions of church ministries.” These changes affect not only administrative and financial spheres but also the legal status of parishes, churches, and property under the metropolia. He spoke about this on NV radio.

The religious expert explained that dismantling these structures would have serious consequences for the parishes: “If all this is liquidated, no one will be able to remain in UOC parishes in historical sites or churches. Local and central authorities will have to terminate all agreements. It is still unclear how unregistered parishes will pay for electricity or gas. But approximately 5,000 churches will remain, while over 3,000 churches will have to be abandoned — this is the price for their pro-Russian position.” He added that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) will undoubtedly claim those churches.

According to Chornomorets, there is an alternative path that some believers are gradually following: “Over the years of war, 2,000 parishes separated from the UOC and joined the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. However, the state does not stimulate this process, as it would be entirely satisfied if the UOC simply separated from the Russian Orthodox Church and became a second independent church within Ukraine. We have a free, liberal state — anyone can do whatever they want, only without connections to religious organizations of the aggressor country. I remind you that Muslims, Protestants, and Russian Old Believers, who had a thousand-year connection with Russia, have already separated.”

He accused the UOC of “resisting the break with Moscow” and warned of mass transfers to the OCU, “because laypeople and clergy, who are the majority, are tired of waiting for the leadership of the UOC to act with common sense and start behaving like Ukrainians.”

It is also worth noting that the UOC supporter and OCU lobbyist in the media, religious expert, and member of the “Sophia Brotherhood,” Yuriy Chornomorets, demanded to give the clergy and believers of the UOC “more freedom.” According to Chornomorets, this would allow the UOC to sever ties with the Russian Orthodox Church much faster and proclaim autocephaly.