"We'll have to fight for another 45 years": OCU cleric predicts timing of "transition" of all UOC communities to Ukrainian schism

The infamous Bukovinian «chaplain» of the OCU Roman Grishchuk, known for inciting religious discord and participating in the seizures of UOC churches in Bukovina, complained that the process of «transition» of religious communities of the canonical Church to the Ukrainian schism is very slow in Ukraine. Hryshchuk expressed the opinion that the «full transition» of the UOC communities to the OCU may take another 45 years. Hryshchuk’s words are reported by acc.cv.ua.

«Although, in general, the results are not very encouraging. At this rate, we need (9000 thousand parishes, 200 per year) to fight for another 45 years,» Hryshchuk wrote on his Facebook account.

the «chaplain» added that according to the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, the total number of religious communities that the state managed to re-register from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the OCU in 2025 is only 191. In total, during 2019-2025, 1754 parishes of the UOC were re-registered to the OCU.

Earlier, Roman Hryshchuk, a cleric of the OCU, during a lecture at the Volyn Theological Academy , sharply criticized traditional iconographic images of Jesus Christ. According to him, he sought to destroy the image, which, in his opinion, «has been imposed by the Moscow Patriarchate and Orthodoxy in its version for the last centuries.»