Mykola Herheliuk

Mykola Herheliuk

Former state registrar of the Chernivtsi Regional State Administration, deacon of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Eparchy of the OCU.

OCU cleric Mykola Herheliuk participated in the persecution of UOC faithful and clergy from the moment of his appointment as state registrar of the Chernivtsi Regional State Administration.

Herheliuk deliberately entered false information into the registration documents of UOC religious communities. Moreover, as a public official, he assisted in the falsification of documents relating to churches and in the unlawful re-registration of UOC parishes.

While working at the Regional State Administration, the official personally participated in church seizures.

Since his dismissal from the position for numerous violations, Herheliuk has been organizing illegal meetings of territorial communities and storming UOC churches.

As of September 25, 2019, Mykola Herheliuk, acting as state registrar of the Chernivtsi Regional State Administration, had unlawfully made changes to the documentation of 17 UOC religious communities.

All of these churches were unlawfully re-registered as OCU property.

In particular, Herheliuk re-registered to the OCU the UOC Holy Archangel Michael Church of the village of Zadubrovka, the UOC Dormition Church of the village of Mykhalcha, the 📘 UOC SS. Peter and Paul Church of the village of Zavoloka, the 📘 UOC Ascension Church of the village of Rynhach, the 📘 UOC Dormition Church of the village of Vaslovivtsy, the 📘 UOC Dormition Church of the village of Tovtry, the UOC Holy Paraskeva Church of the village of Chervona Dibrova, and the UOC Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos Church of the village of Boyanchuk.

(Source: UOJ)

On May 10, 2019, the National Police, acting on a court order, opened criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine for the commission of official forgery by officials of the Chernivtsi Regional State Administration, namely the issuance of knowingly false orders, the entry of knowingly false information therein, and other related offenses.

Mykola Herheliuk became a subject of this case.

On January 31, 2020, Archpriest Mykola Popesku approached Herheliuk with a request to change the head of the religious organization named in honor of St. Nicholas of the village of Chudei, Storozhynets deanery of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Eparchy of the UOC.

Herheliuk refused to make the changes and unlawfully demanded that the clergyman amend the founding documents by renaming the community as the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine (ROCiU).

In May 2020, Mykola Herheliuk, state registrar of the Chernivtsi Regional State Administration, who had "transferred" 17 communities of the canonical Church to the OCU in flagrant violation of applicable law, received a disciplinary sanction from management — a formal reprimand.

This is stated in the official response of Oksana Fylypchuk, head of the Chernivtsi Regional State Administration's Department of Culture, dated May 15, 2020, received by the Consistory of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Eparchy of the UOC.

(Source: UOJ)

Mykola Herheliuk topped the list of "black registrars" against whose actions the greatest number of complaints had been filed.

In 2022, UOC religious organizations filed complaints against him more than a hundred times. It emerged that Herheliuk had been altering their names in the register, adding phrases such as "Affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) not indicated." Most of these complaints were upheld, and the registrar's access to the register was blocked for three months; however, such entries in the registers continue to appear to this day.

(Source: "New Voice of Ukraine" / NV)

On September 28, 2023, OCU activists, backed by radicals and police, seized the Church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel in the village of Stara Zhadova, Chernivtsi Oblast.

The organizer of the raider seizure of the church was Mykola Herheliuk.

(Source: UOJ)

On February 16, 2025, in Chernivtsi, a crowd of unidentified individuals led by several OCU clerics held a meeting outside the fence of the UOC Holy Spirit Cathedral to "transfer" three Ukrainian Orthodox Church churches at once: the Holy Spirit Cathedral, St. Nicholas Cathedral, and the SS. Peter and Paul Church.

Herheliuk participated in the falsifications and the illegal meeting.

(Source: UOJ)

During the night of March 21, 2025, a group of OCU raiders broke onto the grounds of the UOC Holy St. Nicholas Church in the village of Maliatyntsi, Chernivtsi Oblast.

The group of raiders cut the locks and entered the church.

According to information from the scene, the raiders brought a team from other localities. The church seizure was overseen by OCU cleric Herheliuk.

Activists held a meeting on the fate of the church on February 2. The parish of the church was also present.

According to eyewitnesses, 114 parishioners voted in favor of the UOC and 74 activists voted for "transfer to the OCU."

The raiders falsified the documents, deliberately excluding the parish votes from the count.

On April 12, 2025, Mykola Herheliuk participated in the raider seizure of the UOC Holy St. Nicholas Church in the village of Verkhni Stanovtsi, Chernivtsi Oblast.

Herheliuk personally pried open the church doors with a crowbar.

On June 7, 2025, OCU cleric Roman Hryshchuk, together with his son and four colleagues, among whom was Mykola Herheliuk, broke open the gates of the UOC St. Nicholas Church in Chernivtsi.

On June 21, 2025, the parish of the UOC Holy St. Nicholas Church in the village of Kobolchyn in Bukovyna was forced, for the second time, to defend its church from OCU raiders.

Orthodox Christians gathered in the center of the village. After praying for the repose of fallen soldiers, UOC faithful held a meeting of the religious community.

At the same time, local raiders under the direction of Herheliuk and Hryshchuk were gathering at an undisclosed location.

(Source: Project "DOZOR on Pershyi Kozatskyi")