In Zahontsi, Metropolitan Victor prays with persecuted UOC parish

On April 26, 2025, during Bright Week, Metropolitan Viktor of Khmelnytskyi and Starokostiantyniv celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Protection Parish in the village of Zahontsi, Khmelnytskyi district. According to the diocesan press service, the religious community has been praying for over a year in a building adapted for worship.

The premises were offered by a parishioner after the parish’s original church of the UOC was seized by supporters of the OCU.

Concelebrating with the Metropolitan were Archpriest Oleksandr Rybchynsky (diocesan secretary), Archpriest Heorhii Cherniatynsky (dean of the Derazhnia district), the parish rector Archpriest Oleksandr Herasymchuk, and Protodeacon Andrii Tatarchuk.

During the Liturgy, prayers were offered for peace in Ukraine, for deliverance from the enemy, and for God’s blessing on all people of goodwill who help those in need.

A memorial prayer was also offered for the victims of the Chernobyl disaster, which took place 39 years ago.

At the end of the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Viktor congratulated the parishioners on the Bright Resurrection of Christ and presented a censer for the parish's liturgical needs.

As previously reported by the UOJ, on March 28, 2024, supporters of the OCU, together with Khmelnytskyi District Council deputy Oleksandr Chernievych, cut the locks on both entrance doors of the Protection Church of the UOC in Zahontsi and seized the building.