Kuzmin Parish Holds Outdoor Services After Losing Church
Photo: UOC Holy Nativity-of-the-Theotokos Church/Facebook
KUZMIN, UKRAINE — After being deprived of their church building, parishioners of the Nativity of the Theotokos community in Kuzmin gathered outdoors on February 14–15, 2026, to mark the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord and the Saturday of the Departed.
According to the local parish, faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and of the Nativity community served a memorial service at the village cemetery, praying for their departed relatives. They stated that although they had lost access to their church, their faith remained steadfast, emphasizing that “even if the doors of the church are closed, the sky remains open.”
On the feast day, the community also celebrated a blessing-of-water service and blessed candles in the open air, expressing hope for peace and spiritual strengthening amid ongoing trials.
Tensions follow a February 9 conflict over the parish’s forced transfer to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).
Previously, the UOJ reported that conflict had broken out after the OCU had forcibly entered the Nativity of the Theotokos Church in Kuzmin.
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