Holy Trinity Church in Ukraine Set for OCU Takeover After Pentecost
After years of legal and ecclesiastical conflict, Holy Trinity Church in Kremenchuk may soon see its final UOC service before the OCU assumes control.
KREMENCHUK, UKRAINE — The community of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) plans to seize Holy Trinity Church in Kremenchuk after the Feast of Pentecost, following what may be the final service of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) community at the parish.
Archimandrite Theodosius of the OCU told Suspilne that the OCU community decided to allow UOC believers to celebrate the parish feast day on Trinity Sunday before beginning its own services in the church. “We decided so, it's like a gesture of goodwill. There will be a temple day on Trinity, we will give the opportunity to serve it one last time, and then we will go in,” he said. He added that there is no formal agreement between the two sides and that the decision reflects the position of the OCU community itself.
The dispute over the church has continued despite court rulings confirming the transfer of the parish to the OCU. According to previous reports, Ukraine’s Supreme Court upheld earlier decisions recognizing the legality of the community’s transfer. However, representatives of the UOC have remained at the church, and some entrances were reportedly blocked with concrete barriers.
UOJ-Ukraine described the planned transition as a seizure of the cathedral and said tensions around the parish remain high. The outlet reported that UOC believers had previously defended the church from earlier OCU attempts to take control of the property and argued that the community had built and maintained the cathedral for years.
The date of the first OCU service at Holy Trinity Church has not yet been announced.
Previously, the UOJ reported that a UOC community marked its patronal feast despite the seizure of its church building.
