Kyiv authorities seize first UOC church in Kyiv in favor of OCU

In Kyiv, the first case of seizure of a church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the OCU occurred, which, according to representatives of the UOC, was carried out with the assistance of the city authorities. It is the Church of the Martyr John the Warrior in the Bykivnia residential area.

According to the Telegram channel DOZOR, representatives of the OCU published documents confirming the legal transfer of the church to their organization. According to these data, the corresponding order to change the registration documents of the shrine was signed by the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration (KMDA). In the statement of the OCU, quoted by the source, this step is called “the result of a clear and responsible position of the Kyiv City Military Administration in the field of religious policy of the capital.”

The source emphasizes that the state register has already reflected the changes: instead of the rector of the church, Father Oleksiy Sergeyev, Andriy Bihun, who, according to the channel, is an entrepreneur in the restaurant business, is listed as the head of the community. The publication claims that the change of jurisdiction is an act of “state raiding” and not a voluntary decision of the parishioners.

If the information is confirmed, St. John’s Church will become the first church in the capital to be transferred from the UOC to the OCU with the direct participation of the administrative apparatus. All the circumstances of the incident are currently being investigated.

As reported, a former cleric of the OCU, Yaroslav Yasenets, published a statement in which he pointed to systemic problems within the structure, in particular, the fact that the churches seized from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) are empty. According to him, the UOC communities remain loyal to their priests and continue to worship in other places, while the churches transferred to the OCU are not filled with parishioners.