On November 7, 2022, in the village of Chornizh in Volyn, supporters of the OCU made an attempt to seize the church of the UOC. Human rights activist Victoria Kokhanovskaya posted a video from the scene on her Facebook page.

Church raiders came to the church and demanded to give them the temple on the grounds that some of their “registration processes” allegedly “completed”. However, the parishioners of St. Michael’s Church offered them to build a church for themselves or equip a meeting room, rather than take someone else’s, since the religious community in Chornizh is not going to change jurisdiction and remains in the UOC.

“They want to take the finished church. Well, build yourself a church… Once upon a time people prayed in caves, in catacombs – it didn’t matter to them where they prayed. A beautiful church, an ugly church – they prayed. They have a lot of empty houses, let them go into any house, equip themselves, maybe we can help them with something, and pray,”said Anna, a parishioner.

As a result, the supporters of the OCU decided to go for a trick: while the women distracted the UOC believers near the gate, the men tore down the fence from the other side. And then the real massacre for the church began. As a result, the raiders were unable to enter the temple as the police intervened and the temple was sealed.

The rector of the church, Father Rostislav Pavlovich, noted that the decision to rename the parish is illegal, corrupt, so he will challenge it in court.

“We want to find out, using a legal method, why we were re-registered without our consent,” the UOC priest emphasized and said that he would seek the truth in court.