UOC communities in Volyn and Bukovina continue worship in adapted premises after seizure of churches

Religious communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Volyn and Chernivtsi-Bukovyna dioceses continue to worship in adapted premises after their churches were seized by supporters of the OCU. In the village of Skulyn, the faithful celebrated the patronal feast, and in the village of Kerstentsi they held the first liturgy in a private house, facing the loss of their church.

According to the Information and Education Department of the UOC, on October 9, 2025, the community of the Church of the Apostle John the Theologian in the village of Skulyn, Kovel district, celebrated the patronal feast. The festive service, led by Archpriest Mikhail Chupak, Dean of the Kovel-Voskresensky District, was held in a specially equipped room for prayer. We recall that the main St. John the Theologian Church in the village was seized by supporters of the OCU on the night of September 6, 2022.

A similar situation occurred in Bukovyna. on October 12, 2025, the Transfiguration community of the UOC in the village of Kerstentsi, Khotyn deanery, held its first service in a private house. This was a forced measure after their church was seized by representatives of the OCU at the end of September this year.

The Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Eparchy notes that the seizure, which took place on September 29, 2025, in the presence of OCU clerics and police officers, was preceded by a series of events. Earlier, on February 28, 2025, 250 members of the Transfiguration community unanimously voted for loyalty to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church led by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy. At the same time, according to local residents, the meeting on the change of jurisdiction on March 23, which was attended by only about forty people, was subject to pressure, including blackmail and threats of mobilization.

As reported, on October 12, 2025, in Volodymyr-Volynskyi, the religious community of the Holy Dormition Cathedral of the Volodymyr-Volyn Diocese of the UOC, which was taken away from the Church by the state, was forced to perform Sunday services in the open air for the first time in its history. The Divine Liturgy was led by Metropolitan Volodymyr of Volodymyr-Volyn and Kovel, the head of the UOC Volodymyr-Volyn Eparchy. Since the state-seized Assumption Cathedral had been sealed by the executive authorities a day earlier, the clergy of the UOC equipped a chapel on the territory of the church to perform the service.