OCU Cleric on Forced Church Seizures from UOC: At This Pace, We Need Another 45 Years

Roman Hryshchuk. Photo: Facebook

CHERNIVTSI — An Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) cleric from Bukovina has publicly called for the accelerated transfer of parishes from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), describing the process as essential to Ukraine’s victory, while conceding that current results remain modest.

In a Facebook post published on January 12, 2026, OCU cleric Roman Hryshchuk thanked supporters for making Chernivtsi Region the national leader in the number of UOC communities that have been "re-registered" into the OCU. “Your work will not be appreciated by your contemporaries, but it will be appreciated by God and by history,” he wrote, citing Mother Teresa’s words: “What you build will be destroyed, but build anyway.”

Hryshchuk characterized UOC parishes as being under “Moscow occupation,” stating that “every parish freed from Moscow occupation brings Ukraine closer to victory,” while those that remain do the opposite. He argued that such “liberation” must occur not after the war, but “for victory.”

At the same time, the priest acknowledged the limited scale of progress. Based on official data, he estimated that with roughly 200 parishes transferring each year out of about 9,000 nationwide, "we would have to fight for another 45 years!"

Recently, UOJ posted a video examining the reality of these church "transfers" and the statistics that are often repeated about them.

UOJ also reported on an OCU cleric who said that the traditional January 7 celebration of the Nativity of Christ was brought on by "Soviet rule."

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