Ukrainian Authorities Move to Forcibly Evict UOC Community from Historic St. Michael’s Church
City council orders immediate transfer of the restored monastery complex to a state reserve, escalating a two-year conflict as clergy and parishioners warn of expropriation of their long-rebuilt spiritual center.
PEREIASLAV — In Pereiaslav (Kyiv region), local authorities have announced plans for the forcible eviction of a Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) parish from the historic St. Michael’s Church, which for many years has been the spiritual center of the city’s Orthodox residents. This was reported by UOJ-Ukraine, with reference to both the “Dozor” Telegram channel and an article on the Proslav website.
According to clergy and parishioners, the city leadership intends to transfer the church and the territory of the restored monastery into the possession of the National Historical and Ethnographic Reserve “Pereiaslav.” This amounts to the effective expropriation of a sacred site that the monastic community restored with its own hands after decades of neglect during the Soviet period.
According to media reports, at a city council session on November 20, 2025, deputies passed a decision to “remove obstacles” to the reserve’s operations, effectively instructing state agencies to evict the UOC religious community from the St. Michael’s complex. Proslav writes that this involves enlisting the Ministry of Justice and the police to “clear the property of clergy of the UOC (MP).”
Authorities claim that the church de jure belongs to the state and is officially under the management of the reserve. At the same time, they ignore the fact that the UOC community not only restored the church after its destruction but also maintained it for many years without state assistance.
The confrontation surrounding the church has been ongoing for at least two years.
Back in the summer of 2023, a group of activists not connected to the city’s religious life conducted a vote to “transfer” all of Pereiaslav’s churches to the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) as a single list. However, the seizure of St. Michael’s Monastery failed at that time — the parishioners preserved their community.
After this, local authorities initiated the process of terminating the lease agreement. Anti-church forces managed to obtain a formal court ruling on “eviction,” but in practice the community continued to live and pray in their sacred space, gathering hundreds of worshippers.
According to Proslav, the city’s mayor, Viacheslav Saulko, told deputies that the 2023 ruling of the commercial court must be enforced immediately. Meanwhile, the authorities accuse the enforcement service and the police of “insufficient activity,” demanding that they accelerate the forced eviction.
St. Michael’s Monastery is one of the oldest holy sites in the region. After the collapse of the USSR, it was handed over to the faithful almost completely ruined. The monastic brotherhood restored the church, arranged the grounds, and created a full-fledged monastic community around which a strong parish grew.
Previously, UOJ reported a Ukrainian journalist's statement that the low number of UOC-to-OCU parish shifts is a "catastrophe."
