SSETNP: Two UOC communities with a priest joined the OCU in Chernihiv region
The transition meeting was led by clerics of Dumenko's structure.
Two UOC communities in the Chernihiv region, in the villages of Sedniv and Nove, voluntarily joined the OCU together with their priest, according to the State Service for Ethnopolitics.
According to the SSETNP statement, on August 14, in the village of Nove in Chernihiv district, "the St. George's community, which is part of the Holy Dormition parish of the Sedniv community, together with the parishioners of the town of Sedniv, unanimously decided to join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine."
The agency did not clarify how one religious community, being a separate legal entity, can "be part of" another community.
A report by Cheline TV indicates that the transition meeting took place in only one community — in the village of Nove. Twenty-seven people participated in it. The meeting was chaired, for some reason, by OCU clerics — Serafym Lysovyi and the chief chaplain of the "North" operational command, Antoniy.
Lysovyi told the parishioners that "today we are taking the step that will bring us closer to one united family." Chaplain Antoniy told those gathered that "we, one great Ukrainian family, are finally freeing ourselves from this Muscovite yoke."
"It is very painful for me to see when Muscovites killed — and Muscovites performed the funeral rites," he said.
The OCU cleric did not clarify how UOC rector Vasyl Yavodchak, after joining the OCU, would cease to be a "Muscovite."
Yavodchak did not speak at the meeting. In a comment to journalists, he stated that the initiators of the transition to the OCU had tried to hold a meeting two years ago, but were unable to push the decision through at that time.
"Back then the meeting took place, but no decision on the transition was made. And now, as they say, the time has come — that it is already necessary to make the transition. The people have made the transition, and I, as the rector of the parish, also support it," the rector said.
As journalists showed, outsiders also participated in the UOC community meeting. In particular — OCU parishioner from Sedniv, Olha Heniia.
The SSETNP stated that "after the meeting in Nove concluded, the participants traveled to Sedniv, to the Dormition Church, whose community also joined the OCU." However, the state service provided no information about any meeting in Sedniv, nor did it clarify whether such a meeting took place at all.
The OCU stated that cases where UOC priests agree to make the transition are rare.
"Therefore, it is quite joyful when the rector truly supports the decision of his parishioners — or rather is its initiator — so that people take notice and ultimately join the great Ukrainian family within the OCU," said Serafym Lysovyi.
As reported by Suspilne Chernihiv citing the deputy head of the regional department of culture and tourism, nationalities and religions, Pavlo Veselov, during 2026 three communities in Chernihiv region transferred from the UOC to the OCU. In 2025, there were 11 such transfers. In total, since 2022 — 44. Currently, Chernihiv region has 209 OCU communities and 526 UOC communities.
The SPJ previously reported that the rector of a UOC parish in Khmilna joined the OCU after being detained by the TCC.
