Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA
Relations between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) continue to worsen. Certainly, a major factor has been the loss of UOC churches to the OCU. The loss of churches is a complex issue. There are situations where a UOC religious community voluntarily decides by a fair vote to change its affiliation to the OCU. However, difficult questions can arise as to who is eligible to vote. If a village has only one church, should villagers who rarely attend services be able to vote or should the voters be limited to only the faithful core of parishioners? There are also situations where a transfer of a parish to the OCU has been legally approved, but the UOC pastor and some of the parishioners refuse to vacate the church. On the other hand, there are situations where the supporters of the OCU seek to “capture” the church by violence or by force. In any event, emotions can run very high, and hostility between the UOC and the OCU becomes greater.
This month, the media has focused on the OCU – UOC dispute over the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Chernivtsi. Chernivtsi is a city of approximately 265,000 located in southwestern Ukraine approximately 38 km from Romania. Metropolitan Onufry, the primate of the UOC, previously headed the Chernivtsi Eparchy of 23 years. Metropolitan Epifany, primate of the OCU, spent his childhood in the Chernivtsi Oblast. Chernivtsi and its Oblast have substantial Romanian populations. The Holy Spirit Cathedral is an important church for the Romanian minority, and the Liturgy at the Cathedral is celebrated in both Romanian and Church Slavonic.
In the afternoon of February 16, 2025, an outdoors meeting, with 2042 registered participants, was held on Olga Kobylyanska Street in Chernivtsi. The participants unanimously voted to transfer the Holy Spirit Cathedral, the St. Nicholas Church, and the Saints Peter and Paul Church (the three largest UOC churches in Chernivtsi) to the OCU. On the evening of the same day, 4506 persons came to the Holy Spirit Cathedral and marked ballots stating their desire to remain in the UOC. https://suspilne.media/chernivtsi/949889-u-cernivcah-ponad-dvi-tisaci-ludej-progolosuvali-za-perehid-odrazu-troh-parafij-z-upc-mp-do-pcu/ With respect to both elections, it is not clear whether there were eligibility requirements for voting or whether those requirements were enforced.
On June 20, the head of the Chernivtsi Oblast Military Administration, based on the “street” election, registered a new charter for the Cathedral under the jurisdiction of the OCU. https://risu.ua/tri-najbilshi-hrami-chernivciv-oficijno-perejshli-do-pcu_n154939; https://bukoda.gov.ua/npas/pro-reiestratsiiu-statutu-relihiinoi-orhanizatsii-18 (photocopy of the official registration) New statutes were also registered for the other two churches. The UOC disputed the change in affiliation and continued to occupy the cathedral and the two churches. On the feast of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, March 9, a video showed thousands of worshipers, led by UOC Metropolitan Meletiy, at the Cathedral. https://orthochristian.com/167944.html
On June 17, the Cathedral was forcefully seized by a large group of young men who appeared to be highly organized. Thanks to security cameras at the Cathedral, the attack by the group was filmed. These images have now been widely circulated on the Internet. See, for example, https://uoc-news.church/2025/06/18/videoxronika-pochatok-sprobi-zaxoplennya-cherniveckogo-kafedralnogo-soboru-titushkami-ta-pobittya-viryan-i-svyashhennikiv-foto/#2025-06-21 (a very important 7-minute video showing dozen of attackers arriving at the Cathedral and showing their actions outside and inside the Cathedral) Interestingly, the Orthodox Times, which is very supportive of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, referred to the videos as “heartbreaking.” https://orthodoxtimes.com/scenes-of-shame-among-orthodox-in-ukraine-who-will-intervene/ The videos show that the first to enter the Cathedral was a man being pushed in a wheelchair. As soon as the first group of attackers entered the Cathedral, the man in the wheelchair sprang up and joined them. The attackers had arrived at the Cathedral grounds in vans, with many persons in each van. The attackers soon controlled the Cathedral and locked the gates of the steel fence surrounding the Cathedral. Those who resisted the attackers were beaten, including two UOC priests. The most shocking video shows UOC Archpriest Roman Forost (wearing a red shirt) being knocked down, being repeatedly beaten while he was down, and then dragged on the ground off the Cathedral property. This is shown at https://uoc-news.church/2025/06/18/v-merezhi-opublikuvali-video-na-yakomu-bojoviki-bilya-soboru-upc-v-chernivcyax-zhorstoko-byut-svyashhennika/#2025-06-23 .
Websites supporting the UOC subsequently posted interviews of the two beaten priests who were hospitalized. See https://spzh-new.newagelab.com/en/news/84560-beaten-priest-in-chernivtsi-to-bartholomew-our-blood-is-on-your-conscience (Father Vitaliy Honcharuk); https://raskolam-net.info/ru/88606-svyashhennyk-upcz-pobytyj-pid-chas-sproby-zahoplennya-soboru-v-chernivczyah-zapysav-zvernennya-z-likarni/ (Father Roman Forost). The Union of Orthodox Journalists, a very pro-UOC website, has identified two persons involved with one of the delivery vans (the blue-green van in the 7-minute video) as Ivan Chokaliuk and Vasyl Kapriyan – both clerics of the OCU. https://spzh.eu/en/news/86870-footage-shows-ocu-clergy-bringing-thugs-to-seize-uoc-cathedral-in-chernivtsi In the 7-minute video, Kapriyan (with his face very visible) is clearly shown inside the Cathedral removing a security camera. Chokaliuk is shown several times in the 7-minute inside the Cathedral after having changed into clerical clothing (a blue vestment). In the short video of Forost being beaten, the person carrying an icon into the Cathedral appears to be Chokaliuk. The Union of Orthodox Journalists claimed in an article that the attackers included some cadets from the Ivano-Frankivsk Police Academy. https://spzh.eu/en/news/86883-identities-of-those-involved-in-uoc-church-seizure-in-chernivtsi-revealed
Police were soon involved in the event, although there are allegations that a police officer actually directed the attackers. I found that the most complete account of what happened after this point is summarized in an article by Suspilne Chernivtsi, which had a reporter at the scene soon after the attack. https://suspilne.media/chernivtsi/1044913-persa-molitva-ukrainskou-ci-zahoplenna-hramu-bila-svato-duhivskogo-soboru-u-cernivcah-vidbuvaetsa-suticka/ The police told the Suspilne reporter that they had “applied Article 36” to prevent entry into the Cathedral in order to conduct an investigation and to make a legal assessment. A crowd soon developed outside of the steel fence surrounding the Cathedral. The crowd grew to hundreds. According to Romanian media, most of the people in the crowd came from the Romanian-speaking communities near Chernivtsi. https://adevarul.ro/stiri-interne/evenimente/scandal-violent-la-catedrala-din-cernauti-20-de-2451436.html This is consistent with the observation of the Suspilne reporter who stated that the crowd was singing in a language other than Ukrainian. The crowd first broke through the fence. Although the police used tear gas twice against the crowd, the very large crowd was finally able to force its way into the Cathedral. In the confrontation between the police and the crowds, some persons in the crowd and some members of the police were injured. The following is a short video showing the large size of the crowd as it existed at the end of the confrontation. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/k1ZBXshPUeM The police formed a corridor so that the attackers could safely leave the Cathedral. The police corridor and the attackers with their faces covered are shown in a video at https://t.me/s/orthobuk . It appears that the police took no action against the attackers. The UOC remains in control of the Cathedral as of today.
It is apparent that the Romanian minority in the Chernivtsi area considered the attack on the Cathedral to be an attack on the Romanian community itself and responded in large numbers. The events of June 17 received much coverage in the Romanian media. On June 18, Luis Lazarus, a representative of Romania in the European Parliament, referred in his address before the Parliament to the events in Chernivtsi and stated that the Romanian minority in Ukraine has always been oppressed. https://spzh.eu/en/news/86857-ep-reported-severe-beating-of-uoc-priests-by-militants-in-chernivtsi As far as I can determine, the Romanian Patriarchate has not commented on the events in Chernivtsi. As you may recall, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Patriarchate decided on February 29, 2024, to establish in Ukraine a “Romanian Orthodox Church of Ukraine” under the direct jurisdiction of the Romanian Patriarchate. Perhaps the Romanian Patriarchate has not been more vocal about the events in Chernivtsi because it believes that the best solution for the ethnic Romanians in the Chernivtsi area is not to be under the jurisdiction of the UOC but rather to be under the Romanian Orthodox Church of Ukraine (which still has not been approved by the Ukrainian government).
On June 20, OCU Bishop Theognost of Chernivtsi gave a news conference to reporters concerning the events on June 17. This is described at https://suspilne.media/chernivtsi/1047577-zabezpeciti-vhid-pcu-maut-pravoohoronci-i-vlada-vladika-feognost-pro-situaciu-sodo-kafedralnogo-soboru-cernivciv/. The article stated: Feognost said that on June 17, at the request of believers, the first prayer in the Ukrainian language was announced in the Cathedral. “Our priests came to pray, where the faithful also came. As soon as we announced this, unknown people, namely representatives of the UOC-MP, were already prepared and opposed the faithful of the OCU from entering the temple.” Bishop Feognost showed the journalists a copy of the government document registering the Cathedral under the jurisdiction of the OCU. When asked about the videos showing men beating priests, Feognost replied: They are not parishioners of the OCU, but we know that there are many patriotic people in Ukraine. This is the job of law enforcement officers. Let them investigate and seek.
On June 22, Ukrainian television “Channel 24” posted a long interview with Dr. Ludmila Filipovych, a well-known religious scholar in Kyiv, concerning the events in Chernivtsi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrk006bMpIo Referring to the videos, she states that the matter should be seriously investigated and that those responsible should be brought to justice and punished. On June 20 the UOC community of the Holy Spirit Cathedral sent an appeal to President Zelensky and to the Rada’s Commissioner for Human Rights urging an objective investigation of the events of June 17. https://uoc-news.church/2025/06/20/religijna-gromada-svyato-duxivskogo-soboru-chernivciv-nadislala-zvernennya-do-prezidenta-j-ombudsmena/#2025-06-21 The appeal enclosed videos and photos of the events. Personally, I find it difficult to watch the videos without concluding that such violent conduct should be punished.
Peter Anderson, Seattle USA