UOC community of Yakushyntsi thwarts church seizure by OCU supporters
More than a hundred UOC parishioners came to the Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov, after which OCU supporters abandoned their attempt to seize the shrine.
On August 9, 2026, more than a hundred UOC faithful gathered at the Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov in the village of Yakushyntsi, Vinnytsia region, and prevented OCU supporters from taking over the shrine, reports "Pershyi Kozatskyi."
Attempts to transfer the parish to the OCU have been ongoing since March 2025. According to the publication, meetings were organized and protocols on the "transfer" were drawn up, which the UOC community describes as falsified. Throughout this time, the faithful have been defending their rights to the parish and church through legal channels.
In July 2026, a new statute of the religious organization was registered. On July 21, the UOC community appealed against these actions; however, on the same day the legal entity was re-registered in the Unified State Register of Enterprises and Organizations of Ukraine (USRELIEE). "Pershyi Kozatskyi" asserts that the procedure was carried out despite the believers' complaint.
On August 6, around 50 OCU supporters gathered near the church, and their clergyman announced a new meeting for August 9. On Sunday, more than a hundred UOC parishioners came to defend the shrine. Upon seeing the large number of faithful, the OCU supporters, according to the source, abandoned their attempts to enter the church and did not provoke a conflict.
The parishioners once again reaffirmed their loyalty to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church led by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphrius and declared their intention to continue defending their church.
The Union of Orthodox Journalists previously reported that an OCU cleric, while seizing a church, personally cut the locks of the church in Cherniavka.
