Cherkasy. Authorities seized a UOC church

The Episcopal Metochion in Honor of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (UOC)

Address: 30 Heroes of the Dnipro Street, Cherkasy

The seizure of the St. Andrew Episcopal metochion of the UOC in Cherkasy took place with the most blatant violations of the law. The church is owned by the Cherkasy Eparchy of the UOC. This fact significantly complicated the falsification of documents for OCU raiders.

Cherkasy Mayor Anatolii Bondarenko and his criminal group, citing martial law, took the church away from believers allegedly “for military needs”. The authorities, the police, and OCU raiders seized the church through coordinated joint efforts.

On April 1, 2025, Metropolitan Theodosiy of Cherkasy and Kaniv (UOC) said that, according to information coming from various sources, OCU supporters – with the backing of the security services – might attempt a violent seizure of two churches in Cherkasy.

This time, the targeted churches are those of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called and the Nativity of Christ in the city of Cherkasy.

The hierarch reported that employees in several publicly funded institutions were warned they must show up in the morning to participate in actions against the shrines of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Those who refuse, he said, are being threatened with possible dismissal.

The attack could happen in the coming days. As soon as the exact date and time are known, the Orthodox community of Cherkasy will be immediately informed.

Metropolitan Theodosiy called on clergy and parishioners to stand united and to "defend the holy places from the barbarians."

He emphasized that the churches in question, along with the land on which they stand, are the property of the Cherkasy Diocesan Administration of the UOC and are backed by all the necessary legal documentation.

"No so-called 'communities' have ever owned these churches, nor do they have any legal rights to them," the bishop stated.

He reminded that the illegal seizure of churches is a crime, and responsibility for such actions will fall not only on the organizers but also on all participants.

The Metropolitan also stressed that the faithful in Cherkasy do not intend to stand by idly: "We will not give up our holy places! We remember how they seized the cathedral, which now stands empty. The raiders have already brought shame on our city. Repent and fear God!"

(Source: UOJ)

On April 2, 2025, the Legal Department of the Cherkasy Eparchy of the UOC issued an official clarification regarding attempts at a raider seizure of churches in Cherkasy.

The statement was prompted by claims from OCU representatives, who on April 2, 2025 attempted to seize St. Andrew’s Church and the Church of the Nativity of Christ.

According to the document, following the failed attempt at a forcible takeover, a post titled “Refuting False Information” appeared on the official Facebook page of the "Cherkasy Eparchy of the OCU." UOC lawyers called this post “a manipulation based on blatantly false claims.”

The legal department emphasized that both churches are legally owned by the administrative body of the Cherkasy Eparchy of the UOC, and the land plots on which the churches are situated are in the permanent use of the diocese, as confirmed by official State Land Acts.

The statement refutes the OCU's reference to “Justice Ministry decision No. 1861/5 from June 21, 2024,” which allegedly revoked the ownership rights. “This is a blatant lie and manipulation. The decision merely annulled the actions of the registrar who entered the data into the registry more than ten years ago, but it does not and cannot revoke the ownership itself, as upheld by a ruling of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine,” the statement reads.

The lawyers also pointed to fraudulent practices involving the sudden appearance of "parishes" represented by the OCU. According to their information, the UOC’s St. Andrew parish had been officially dissolved back in 2013 but suddenly “resurrected” in the registry on March 7, 2025, and immediately joined the OCU. Meanwhile, the Church of the Nativity of Christ parish “never legally existed at all” and was registered only in February 2025.

In conclusion, the Cherkasy Eparchy appealed to local authorities and law enforcement to prevent bloodshed and the illegal seizure of church property.

(Source: UOJ)

On April 9, 2025, at an extraordinary 77th session of the Cherkasy City Council, deputies took away from the UOC the land beneath three churches.

This was stated by the city council secretary Yurii Trenkyn.

Trenkyn did not name the churches, indicating only the addresses: 30 Heroes of the Dnipro Street, 39/1 Sumhaitska Street, and 18 Vikentii Khvoika Street.

All the churches belonged to the Cherkasy Eparchy of the UOC. One of them was the St. Andrew Episcopal metochion.

According to Trenkyn, “this decision is one of the important steps toward strengthening our spiritual independence and justice”.

“We will no longer allow forces supporting aggression against our country to act under the cover of faith. Every patch of Ukrainian land must serve the interests of our people, and not be an instrument of influence of foreign states,” the city council secretary said, thanking all who voted in favor.

(Source: Trenkyn’s Facebook page)

On April 10, 2025, the Cherkasy “metropolitan” of the OCU, Ioan, said he intended to “enter” the UOC churches of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called and the Nativity of Christ in Cherkasy after Pascha.

He said this in a comment to 18000.

According to him, "the communities will not enter these churches for now," because it is allegedly "important not to create negativity towards the parishioners who love their temples".

"Passion Week is coming, then Bright Sunday, and after the Sunday of the Departure, we will plan to enter our churches, regardless of how the Moscow priests will react. Our communities are categorically determined," the "hierarch" of the OCU said.

(Source: UOJ)

On May 6, 2025, a forcible “transfer” of the St. Andrew Episcopal metochion of the UOC to the OCU took place.

OCU clerics, together with representatives of the authorities, entered the church grounds and began an “inventory of property”. Police blocked the church gates and did not allow the community inside.

Despite the fact that St. Andrew’s Church legally belongs to the Cherkasy Eparchy of the UOC, the authorities attached to it a fake OCU community that does not exist in reality and fraudulently “transferred” the church to the OCU structure.

Mayor Anatolii Bondarenko came to the church and told parishioners and priests that their goal was to create a “picture for Russian TV channels”. The secretary of the Cherkasy City Council told parishioners that there would now be a “Ukrainian patriarchate” in St. Andrew’s church.

The church doors were personally broken open by the OCU cleric Nazarii Zasanskyi, who takes part in raider seizures of churches.

It later became known that the church was taken away by the Cherkasy authorities pursuant to draft decision of the Cherkasy City Council No. 1014-9-rd. For this, the perpetrators used the law banning the UOC, which had not even entered into force at that time.

Mayor Bondarenko ordered:

“To seize from the permanent use the land plots on the grounds of public necessity in the manner established by the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Basic Principles of the Forced Seizure in Ukraine of Objects of Property Rights of the Russian Federation and Its Residents’, used by the following religious organizations: – the Cherkasy Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”

From the explanatory note to this document, it is clear that officials refer to Law 3894.

They cite the so-called “DESS expertise on the affiliation of the UOC with the ROC”, and then claim that this is allegedly property “belonging to a subject from the Russian Federation” and proceed to seize it.