On March 8, 2023, during the second week of Great Lent, supporters of the OCU seized the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Glubochitsa, in the suburbs of Zhytomyr. This was reported by the press service of the Zhytomyr diocese of the UOC.

“OCU activists, already according to their “good” tradition, cut off the locks with a grinder and broke into the temple,” the message says.

The illegal re-registration of the community took place long before the mentioned events. The reason for the seizure of the shrine was the session of the Glubochitsky village council on February 28, 2023. The session considered the issue of “transferring for free use (loan) the building of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Glubochitsa” to representatives of the OCU.

Representatives of the OCU refused the offer to wait for the decision of the court.

The rector and the community of the temple remain in the bosom of the UOC.