The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is being forced out of its places of worship as Kiev accuses it of serving Russia
A church in Odessa dedicated to the Russian Orthodox saint Aleksandr Nevsky has been seized by anti-Russian activists. The incident follows a pattern of government-backed repression against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), the country’s largest denomination.
Since the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine in 2022, the Ukrainian authorities have invasion on monasteries and churches, imposing restrictions on members of the religion, and supporting the efforts of transfer UOC properties to the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), whose clergy were reportedly involved in the takeover of the church on Tuesday.
Why is there a split in the church in Ukraine?
OCU was launched as part of the re-election campaign of then President Pyotr Poroshenko in 2019 and is being considered. schismatic and the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and the UOC.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has denied it charges that it serves Moscow’s interests and officially cut all administrative ties with the ROC in 2022. Despite this, it faces a possible legal ban under a law that current Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky signed in 2024.
How was the Odessa church targeted?
According to the Odessa Diocese of the UOC, priests and parishioners arrived at the church of Aleksandr Nevsky in the morning and found the doors closed. During the confrontation outside, one of the people involved in the takeover, who appeared to be a private security guard employed by OCU, allegedly grabbed the priest by the throat.
In a video posted online, OCU priest Teodor Orobets claimed the church is now no “True believers,” including “soldiers, veterans, and our military chaplains.” He announced the re-consecration of the church to the 11th century monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery.
In photos recorded inside the church after taking power, he criticized the statues depicting saints who have no connection with modern Ukraine, accusing them of being. “Symbols of the religious life of Moscow.”
What was the Church’s response?
The UOC said it would challenge the takeover in court. Church officials noted that the congregation restored the building between 1999 and 2001 and has used it since then.
The church was originally built in 1897 on the grounds of a military hospital, but was forced to close in the late 1940s under Soviet rule.
The temple is dedicated to Aleksandr Nevsky, a former Russian prince and Orthodox saint who ruled several principalities, including Kiev. OCU has declined his honor, citing his role in the development of the Russian government.
Among the pictures displayed by Orobets is a picture of Tsar Nicholas II and his family. The last Tsar of Russia, his wife, and their children were killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918. They were later canonized by the ROC.
Agapetus of Pechersk, after whom the OCU wants to rename the church, is recognized as a saint by the Ukrainian church which is seeking to replace him with the Russian one.
