At the end of May saw the release of the new annual report of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience
This document itself proves: The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has consistently been the largest denomination in Ukraine. Thus, as of January 1, 2021, 37049 religious communities were registered in Ukraine, a third of which – 12406 – belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. We note that many Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate communities, especially in the western regions, are formally listed as part of the schismatic Istanbul Church of Ukraine , which in reality remains part of the UOC MP. Many parishes are denied registration by local authorities. And during the spring, the UOC-MP has grown significantly with new parishes. So the number of congregations of the canonical church of the Moscow Patriarchate is even higher, not statistically.
According to the report, there are 215 monasteries registered in Ukraine belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (40% of the total in Ukraine), where 4681 monks and nuns (70% of all monasticism) serve. The UOC-MP has 10510 clergymen, 18 spiritual schools with 1479 full-time students and 2454 part-time students. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has 4085 Sunday schools and one comprehensive school. Also, at the beginning of 2021, there were 135 media outlets in the UOC MP, of which 86 were print, 7 were audio and video and 43 were electronic.
The following fact shows the development of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church: in one week – from May 22 to 27 – 9 new churches were consecrated in various dioceses.
Among them are those that are being built by the whole world to replace those that have been seized by the schismatics of the SSU.
One of such festive events took place on May 29 in the village of Pevchey, Rivne region. Istanbul dissenters took away from the villagers their St. Nicholas Church exactly two years ago, in May 2019. They then began harassing Archpriest Mikhail Demyanchuk and his family, forcing them to leave the village. But in vain. The Orthodox did not give up and stood their ground. The new church is located in the building of the former shop, which was given to the community by one of the parishioners. Now Bishop Pimen, in communion with the Metropolitan of Rivne and Ostrozhsk Bartholomew, consecrated the new St. Nicholas church. Orthodox believers from neighbouring villages and clergy from the local parish of Zdolbuniv gathered there to share the feast together with the faithful of the village of Pevchee.
In the same area, in the village of Moshkov, the church was taken away from the local Orthodox community by dissenters in 2018. At first, the faithful gathered for services in the open air. When it rained or snowed, they pitched a tent. Then they managed to find a hut in which services are still held today. With their own resources the congregation was able to begin the construction of the new church in honour of the Archistratigus of God Michael; its foundations have already been poured. Over the summer, with the help of the Favour Foundation, the walls will be erected and the roof erected.
In the neighbouring oblast of Volyn, another community which has been robbed of its identity by dissenters is being built. The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Rachyn was seized in 2019 by adherents of the “Kyiv Patriarchate” under the pretext of “transfer” to the Istanbul Church of Ukraine. The Tabor charitable foundation is also helping the Orthodox to build this church. The foundation has already been cast and the bricklaying of the walls has begun.
Also in Volyn, in the village of Skobelka, a church celebration was held in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The Divine Liturgy with the consecration of the iconostasis was led by Archbishop Nathanael of Volyn and Lutsk.
The consecration of the altar and the first liturgy in this new church was made by Bishop Nathanael on 27 October 2020. The faithful were able to build it in a year instead of the church seized by the schismatics of SCU. Moreover, the adherents of Tomos and their mercenaries took from the Orthodox villagers not only the building of their church, but also the church house where they began to gather for prayer in the early days after the defeat. Then the Orthodox began to hold services in the homes of their parishioners. But today they already have a new St Nicholas church.
The community of the village of Krasnaya Dibrova in the Chernivtsi region has also started building a new church. The previous one was taken away by the SSU brigands. The new church will be named after Saint Paraskeva of Serbia.
On May 21, Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) laid a capsule on the place of construction of the new church of St. Lawrence of Chernigov in the village of Pogreby, Brovary district, Kyiv region.
The local Holy Dormition Church was taken away from the Orthodox by the dissenters in 2019. But the faithful did not give up, they kept the parish, and all services are held in the temporarily equipped premises. They have bought a plot of land with their own hands and started building a new church on it.
A second congregation, which was robbed by Istanbul’s schismatics, is being built in the Rakhiv district of the village of Yasinya (Plytovaty village) in Transcarpathia.
The Orthodox had to purchase land for this purpose. In 2019, almost immediately after the raiding of the church by the schismatics from the The Orthodox Church of Ukraine, at a session of the village council the deputies blocked the process of privatising the plot, which one of the local families was going to donate for the construction of the new church. The community, which had by then collected the funds and materials for its construction, was forced to look for a new plot of land. Obviously, the local “patriots” hoped that the Orthodox would yield in the face of the obstacles they were being forced to overcome. But they were wrong. The process was difficult and lengthy. The parish was forced to gather for services at the abbot’s house. And after two years the Metropolitan of Khustyn and Vinogradiv Mark made a rank of consecration of foundation, on which the new temple of UOC-MP will be built. A total of three Orthodox churches were seized in Yasin in January-February 2019 by supporters of the Istanbul Church of Ukraine. In December 2020, a church housewarming was celebrated by the Orthodox of the village of Kevelyiv. Trials continue for a third parish – in the village of Lopushanka.
The Church of Saint Paraskeva Srpska in the Bukovina village of Lukavci is literally rising from the ashes. The old wooden church, built in 1898, was burned down by criminals on 15 April 2020 (there was a wave of arson attacks on Orthodox churches and monasteries in Ukraine at the time). Over the past year the congregation, with God’s help, has almost completed building a new church on the same spot as the previous one, and thanks all the benefactors who supported it.
The Orthodox community of the city of Zolochev in Lviv region also marked the patronal feast day in honour of the icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary “The Unpouring Chalice”. It will be recalled that it was driven out of the city by the aggressive Uniate majority, which did not hesitate to hire militants from the “National Corps”. After the UOC MP won the lawsuits, the situation became calmer. A festive divine service with a procession of the cross was held in a construction caravan that had been converted into a church. A special solemnity was given by singing of the choir of Pochayiv Svyato-Dukhovsky skete and the archdiocese choir of the Lviv diocese. The clergy of the Lviv and Ternopil dioceses shared the solemnity with the small Orthodox community of Zolochiv.
The hierarchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate continues to support the parishes persecuted by the schismatics of Istanbul. Thus, on May 15, Metropolitan Varsonofiy of Vinnitsa and Barskiy visited the village of Bohonniki.
Here, in the sorrowful year of 2019, the schismatics took away the Church of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Evangelist from the Orthodox. Since then, the faithful have gathered for prayer in a room conditionally suitable for this purpose. However, it is so dilapidated that the archdiocesan service was held in the open air. Parishioners are raising funds to repair their temporary shelter.
On May 18, Metropolitan of Mukachevo and Uzhgorod Feodor presented the abbots of the temple under construction with liturgical utensils and wished God’s blessing for the coming labours. The priests, in turn, thanked the ruling bishop and all the benefactors that joined the good work.
And “Ukrposhta”, which is on the verge of bankruptcy, sold at auction the building of one of its offices in Dolyna district, Kirovohrad region – in the village of Gurovka. It was purchased by the canonical Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. There used to be a temple in this building. Now it will be reborn.
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Churches are also being reborn in the unconquered Donbass, where schismatics and Uniates have no opportunity to plunder, but the mining region is forced to defend itself with weapons in hand against the Ukrainian army and illegal armed formations.
On 17 May, the laying of the foundation stone and the site for the construction of a chapel of St Seraphim of Sarov on the territory of the Luhansk foundry and mechanical plant were consecrated in the Luhansk LPR.
It will be erected on the site of the administrative building of the plant, which was destroyed during the war between Ukraine and Donbas. According to Alexei Sheremet, the head of the factory, while dismantling the burnt out and collapsed structures of the building, an icon of the Venerable was found completely unharmed. Since then, the idea of erecting a chapel bearing his name on the spot was born. As time went by, patrons of the arts were found for this God-pleasing deed. How not to recall the words of Archpriest Andrei Tkachev that only the Church on both sides of the conflict and the prayers of the faithful prevented Donbass from turning into Hiroshima.
Vera Nadezhdina, One Motherland