On February 11, 2024, at a meeting of deacons and abbesses of the diocese, Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy and Kanevsky told about a new scheme by means of which supporters of the OCU in different regions of Ukraine have been seizing churches and property of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for several months. This is reported by the Information and Education Department of the UOC with reference to the press service of the Cherkassy diocese.

It is noted that notaries print out on notarized forms information about allegedly held meetings of communities and certify the signatures of those who are listed as “participants of the relevant events” (on the principle of “we do not certify the fact of the meeting, but that the names of people who, as we were told, held them, coincide with the data of their passports”).

In fact, these meetings are not held, the supporters of the OCU simply designate them on paper, certify them on notarized forms ostensibly to confirm their personal data, and then submit these pseudo-documents to re-register the charters of the congregations. As a result, members of UOC congregations are forced to prove through the courts who actually owns the church property. This can take years.

Vladyka Theodosius reported that in a similar way for six months, without the knowledge of the rectors and congregations, the charters of almost all parishes in one of the districts of Cherkassy diocese have already been re-registered. The same cases are observed in other dioceses of the UOC.

We will remind, earlier we reported that on November 20, 2023 in Cherkassy representatives of the OCU together with members of the radical right-wing organization “Natskorpus” and police officers seized the convent in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Cherkassy diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.