UGCC defrocks priest for defecting to OCU
The UGCC considers the OCU to be schismatics.
The Sokal-Zhovkva Eparchy of the UGCC announced that former priest Bohdan Murovanyi has been defrocked. The decision dated November 3, 2025 was made "in accordance with the Decree of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding a grave sinful act bearing signs of a crime of schismatic character."
On September 8, 2023, Murovanyi concelebrated with the head of the Volodymyr-Volynskyi Eparchy of the OCU, Matviy Shevchuk, at the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ in Volodymyr. After this, the UGCC issued a decree banning him from priestly service, citing canon 702 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, which forbids a Catholic priest from concelebrating the Liturgy with non-Catholic clergy.
According to the eparchy's statement, Murovanyi has been stripped of all ecclesiastical offices and dignities. He is forbidden to celebrate the Liturgy, baptize, perform marriages, and hear confessions (except in cases of mortal danger). If he attempts to perform marriages or hear confessions, these sacraments will be not merely unlawful, but invalid – that is, devoid of grace and having no canonical force.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that the UGCC called clergy who shift to the OCU schismatics.
