In vlg Babiyn police officers forcibly drag out priest during church seizure

The rector of the Ascension Church in Babyn. Photo: the press service of the Chernivtsi Eparchy

Police officers stormed the Ascension Church in the village of Babyn, Chernivtsi Eparchy, in order to help the OCU members seize the church, reports the diocese's press service on its Telegram channel.

The police broke into the temple during the performance of Extreme Unction and tried to disrupt the sacrament and drag the rector out into the street.

Archpriest Ioan Protsiuk, the rector of the church, had a hard time persuading the law enforcement officers to allow the sacrament to end.

At the end of the Unction, supporters of the OCU, together with their "priest", tried to force their way into the altar. Father Ioan tried to stop the aggressive activists from desecrating the shrine but was abused by the police.

Read also

GOARCH Sets 2026 Clergy-Laity Congress for Cleveland

GOARCH will convene its 2026 Clergy-Laity Congress in Cleveland, highlighting parish renewal under the theme “Rise and Build,” alongside major Philoptochos and young-adult gatherings.

Monastic Vocations Gathering Draws Young Men to St. Peter's Monastery

Visit from Hilandar abbot highlights growing interest in Orthodox monastic life in America.

HCHC Wins $7.5 Million Lilly Endowment Grant to Revamp Priestly Formation

Grant will fund redesigned Master of Divinity program with extensive parish-based training.

Islamists Desecrate Orthodox and Presbyterian Churches in Sudan

Two Port Sudan churches were defaced with Islamic graffiti, highlighting rising anti-Christian hostility amid the Sudanese civil war.

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Falls Asleep in the Lord

The Tokyo-born performer will be remembered for decades of film and TV work. In 2015, he was baptized into the Orthodox faith, taking the name Panteleimon.

Midwest Churches to Host Lectures Marking 100 Years Since St. Tikhon’s Repose

Holy Trinity Seminary professor Protodeacon Andrei Psarev will tour the Midwest to deliver a lecture series honoring St. Tikhon of Moscow as "The First Patriarch of the New World."