Vyshhorod. The Seizure of the Saints Boris and Gleb Church of the UOC in Kyiv Region, by Armed Units

Address: st. Kalnyshevsky, 11a, Vyshhorod, Kyiv Oblast, 07301

On September 5, 2023, a group of OCU raiders stormed onto the grounds of the historic Saints Boris and Gleb Church of the UOC in Vyshhorod. One OCU cleric desecrated the altar and attempted to steal the antimension.

The seizure followed an illegal “meeting” of OCU activists at a stadium, where they decided to take the church from the Orthodox faithful.

On September 5, 2023, OCU raiders cut the locks and broke into the Saints Boris and Gleb Church in Vyshhorod. At the same time, as can be seen in the video, the police did not prevent them from committing an offence.

Footage of the seizure shows OCU cleric Vasyl Lilo,
UGCC chaplain Mykola Medynskyi, and
OCU cleric Vasyl Kloss.

OCU cleric Yurii Bolshakov desecrated the church’s altar and attempted to steal the antimension.

"Union of Orthodox Journalists"

On September 8, 2023 they tried to disrupt a prayer service in honor of the Vyshgorod Icon of the Mother of God

The entrance to the temple was blocked. According to information from the scene, many police officers and people in military uniform arrived.

After some time, engineering equipment was brought to the church to create noise and disturb believers from praying.
Video of mockery of Orthodox Christians:

18 July 2024. "Service" of OCU in a seized half-empty church in Vyshhorod shown on the Net

Only a few parishioners of the OCU gather for Sunday services in the previously overcrowded UOC church.
In the Borisoglebsky church in Vyshhorod, Kyiv region, and vespers on Saturdays are not held at all.

Local residents sent videos showing that only a few people attend the Sunday service. According to eyewitnesses, in the once fully attended central church of the entire Vyshhorod district, only about a dozen people attend the OCU's Sunday service. Evening services on Saturdays are completely absent, with only memorial services held.

"For this, the Orthodox Christians were deprived of their sanctuary. They forced the true parishioners of the church, who invested their efforts in the church's restoration, to pray outdoors. And now they want to take away the second UOC church in the city," the message said.

On August 6, 2024, the parishioners of the ancient Borysoglib church also celebrated their throne holiday on the street - next to the walls of their closed and seized shrine.

"Just as the holy martyr brothers commanded not to raise their hands against their brother, so the faithful of the UOC fulfill their command at home, at work, and in the community.

And we can safely say
that the religious community of the temple became one big family, praying on the street, in the open air," - the parishioners told journalists.

The faithful of the UOC offered prayers for peace in Ukraine and for the military. They also prayed for their persecutors.

10 November 2024. Persecuted UOC parish of Vyshhorod celebrates its feast day in a garage

On the feast day of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki, the parish of Sts. Boris and Gleb of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in Vyshhorod was forced to celebrate its feast day in an improvised facility, essentially a garage. This was reported by the Dozor_kozak1 Telegram channel.

“At that time, a terrible desecration was committed against the sanctuary, and an OCU cleric even attempted to steal the antimension,” the message says.

It is noted that for a long time, UOC parishioners were compelled to pray outdoors, by the walls of the church they had cared for over decades.

According to the Telegram channel, despite all the hardships, the faithful have preserved their love and fervent faith.

On February 15, 2025, weather with snow, low temperature - the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord, the persecuted parish of Saints Boris and Gleb of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in Vyshhorod prayed near the walls of their church, while their sacred church remains empty and in decline.

Thanks to the help of the deputy of the Kyiv Regional Council from the European Solidarity party, Doctor of Law Roman Tytykalo (pictured to the left of the new “rector” Vasily Kloss), in November 2023, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine canceled the registration of the ownership rights of the community of UOC believers to the premises and buildings of the temple.