On September 7, 2018, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople sent two exarchs, one from the U.S. and another from Canada, to Kiev in order to initiate the process of "legitimatizing" a schismatic "autocephalous" church in the Ukraine, breaking its former promises not to do any such thing, and without any consultation with the existing canonical Church, which constitutes the vast majority of practicing Orthodox Christians in Ukraine.
Because of the lack of information on Ukrainian Church history and reality available in English, and the resulting misinformation being spread, OrthoChristian.com will be gathering articles on the subject in this section. We hope also by this to help our readers understand why this move violates our Church canons and accepted traditions.
News
- Metropolitan Sawa protests to Patriarch Bartholomew again—schismatics invading Polish Church territory
- Antiochian hierarch calls for prayers for persecuted Ukrainian Metropolitan Arseny of Svyatogorsk
- Persecuted Metropolitan Arseny sentenced to 2 months of detention again, denied necessary medical care
- Five months of 24/7 vigil against violent seizure at Ukrainian parish in Bukovina
- Case to ban Kiev Metropolia of Ukrainian Orthodox Church begins
- Belarusian Synod calls for prayer and fasting in solidarity with persecuted Ukrainian Church
- UOC’s Metropolitan Arseny released after year and a half, immediately re-arrested on new charges
- Cherkasy cathedral stands nearly empty a year after bloody seizure, anti-Orthodox violence continues
- Athonites who served with Dumenko should be excommunicated, cell monks write
- Pochaev Lavra calls for three-day strict fast as state prepares to shut down the UOC
- Schismatic primate Dumenko on Mt. Athos for first time—visits six monasteries
- Ukrainian state seizes Volyn cathedral, seminary, administration buildings from Orthodox Church
- Double attack on Pochaev Lavra: SBU search and seizure attempt on same day
- Four more Orthodox churches forcibly seized in Ukraine since late September
- Ukrainian priest attacked with axe during Divine Liturgy
- Ukrainian priest found guilty for holding procession around his church
- Planned visit to Mt. Athos by schismatic Dumenko sparks division among monasteries
- Young Republican leader condemns Ukraine’s legal action against Orthodox Church
- Call for prayer and fasting ahead of court case in state’s war against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
- Court denies UOC’s request for injunction in Church dissolution case
- Ukrainian Metropolitan calls out Patriarch Bartholomew’s silence about persecution by OCU he created
- Greek Metropolitans condemn persecution of Ukrainian Orthodox Church as silence divides hierarchy
- Ukrainian Security Service targets journalists reporting on Orthodox Church persecution
- Schismatic “bishop” personally leads church seizure (+VIDEOS)
- Ukrainian court orders medical care for unjustly detained Metropolitan Arseny
- “We Can’t Abandon Our Flock”: Met. Luke of Zaporozhye on state pressure and wartime ministry
- Seven UN special rapporteurs sound alarm over persecution of Ukrainian Orthodox Church
- Ukraine runs microbiological tests on Kiev Caves relics, refuse to provide explanations, lawyer says
- Ukraine detains another UOC bishop for military service
- Ukraine files lawsuit to ban Kiev Metropolia of canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church
- Ukraine relies on Russian documents to declare Kiev Metropolia affiliated with Moscow Patriarchate
- UOC’s Metropolitan Luke ordered to pay legal costs after failed defamation suit
- Defamation case opened against schismatic Epiphany for lies about UOC Metropolitan
- A bomb inside an icon—Russian security forces foil Ukrainian plot in Crimea (+VIDEO)
- Schismatics invade Czech-Slovak Church territory, violating their own tomos
- Metropolitan Luke denounces satanic desecration of Kiev Caves relics
- Jerusalem hierarch condemns “mockery of faith”—Ukrainian authorities’ disregard for Kiev Caves relics
- State employees found desecrating Kiev Caves relics
- Ukrainian Church rejects state ultimatum as “fictitious” and legally flawed
- Ukrainian MPs appeal to Trump over Orthodox Church persecution, political repression
- Ukrainian hierarch who saved hundreds of orphans now forbidden from guardianship
- UOC diocese condemns forced mobilization of clergy as an attack on the Body of Christ itself
- Schismatics encroach on Polish Church territory again, violating their own tomos
- Ukrainian court rules in favor of Church in Elets Monastery dispute
- UOC’s Metropolitan Arseny remains in detention despite expired court order
- Ukrainian Church Lawyer appeals to Orthodox and Western leaders over UOC persecution
- Uncanonical Metropolitan Dumenko serves in Kiev Lavra’s Far Caves for first time
- “Gates of hell shall not prevail”: UOC Chancellor responds to state ultimatum
- The Ukrainian ethnopolitical service puts another deadline on UOC
- OCU Metropolitan shrugs shoulders on Pochaev
- Ukrainian enlistment forces detain UOC metropolitan
- ROC rep. explains why the Vatican is not the right place for Russia-Ukraine discussions
- New details about the raid on a church in Ukraine: “A coordinated special operation”
- V. Legoida: The revocation of Met. Onuphry’s citizenship is a harsh political act
- U.S. Congresswoman condemns persecution of Ukrainian Church, vows no more weapons for Ukraine
- Orthodox faithful issue statement of support for Metropolitan Onuphry after citizenship revocation
- Zelensky cancels citizenship of Metropolitan Onuphry, head of UOC, largest religious confession in Ukraine
- Romanian Church rejects call to recognize schismatic OCU—would only embolden them and increase violence
- Ukrainian priest kidnapped by military enlistment office missing for 5 days
- OCU militants used altar as toilet during violent cathedral seizure in Chernivtsi
- We mustn’t betray Orthodoxy even in small ways—Metropolitan Theodosy on the pressure to declare UOC auctocephaly
- SBU conducts another search at Ukraine’s Korets Monastery
- Video captures brutal attack on priest at Cherkasy cathedral (+VIDEOS)
- Metropolitan of Corfu offers strong support to persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox parish facing church seizure
- Failed seizure of Ukrainian cathedral leaves clerics hospitalized after violent assault (+VIDEOS)
- Court orders investigation into state employee’s comments about “cleansing” Kiev Caves Lavra
- Police and schismatics attack church and elderly parishioners as Orthodox Christians peacefully pray
- Ukraine ramping up persecution of Kiev Caves Lavra and canonical Church
- Ukrainian hierarch responds to slander with forgiveness: “I love you all” (+VIDEO)
- Court leaves persecuted Metropolitan Arseny languishing in detention for another two months
- Arson attack on Ukrainian monastery follows fake media campaign against Metropolitan Longin
- Court seizes historic monastery from Ukrainian Orthodox Church
- Anti-Orthodox radicals force cancellation of service by Metropolitan Onuphry (+VIDEOS)
- Metropolitan Onuphry: The Council in May 2022 fundamentally changed the life of our Church
- Ukraine launches investigation of Kiev Metropolia of canonical UOC today
- Former Sr. Vassa announces apostasy from canonical Orthodoxy, joins state-sponsored Ukrainian schismatics
- Pride marches and propaganda banned in Moldovan capital, KyivPride 2025 announced
- Ukraine establishes procedure for investigating religious organizations’ ties to Russia
- Supreme Court upholds sentence against elderly Ukrainian Orthodox hierarch
- ROCOR’s Sr. Vassa in Kiev: Liturgy, lectures, and meetings with persecutors, schismatics, suspended priests
- Schismatics, police, and mayor seize Ukrainian Church in Cherkasy (+VIDEO)
- UOC’s Metropolitan Arseny has been detained for more than a year on fabricated charges
- UOC’s Metropolitan Luke condemns LGBT film festival opening on Holy Friday
- Ukrainian authorities target UOC chancellor Metropolitan Anthony, seize computers
- Violent schismatics attack four Orthodox churches in single day, leaving young woman bloodied (+VIDEO)
- Orthodox representatives condemning blasphemous “examination” of Kiev Caves relics
- Dozens of monastic tonsures in Ukrainian Orthodox Church during Great Lent
- UOC hierarchs: Saints of the Kiev Caves will defend themselves, this will end poorly for the blasphemers
- Court extends UOC bishop’s detention for another two months—his second Pascha in custody
- Commission “inspecting” relics cuts locks to Kiev Caves, Orthodox monks refuse to be part of blasphemy
- U.S. Religious Freedom Commission condemns law banning the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church
- Persecuted UOC hierarch released from nighttime house arrest after two years
- Number of clergy in Cherkasy Diocese has only grown during persecution
- Thousands process at Ukrainian cathedral targeted by schismatics
- Week-long defense of Orthodox cathedral against seizure by schismatics
- Orthodox believers in Ukrainian town maintain decade-long tradition of monthly prayer processions
- Orthodox in western Ukraine spend night in church to prevent seizure by godless schismatics
- Tucker Carlson and Ukrainian Church lawyer discuss persecution, role of the U.S. (+VIDEO)
- Documentary on persecution of Ukrainian Church screened in Washington, D.C.
- Chernivtsi cathedral confirms loyalty to Orthodox Church in face of schismatics’ threats
- Greek Metropolitan of Corfu sends precious relic to support persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church
- Schismatics threaten priest’s family, seize another church
- Hundreds of Ukrainian Orthodox process for protection of churches in western Ukraine (+VIDEO)
- UOC lawyer: America funds the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (+VIDEO)
- Orthodox parishes in western Ukraine seek U.S. protection from religious persecution
- Police pursuing Cherkasy cathedral defenders, not the violent invaders
- Court suspends eviction of monks from Kiev Caves Lavra in legal victory for canonical UOC
- For first time since Soviet Union, Ukraine takes ownership of saints’ relics
- UN report: Ukraine’s law banning UOC is baseless
- Forcibly mobilized Ukrainian priest released after a week
- Schismatics seize another cathedral in Ukraine
- UOC priest forcefully mobilized just after wife gives birth, despite health issues
- Ukrainian service reports number of parish “transfers” from Orthodox Church to schismatic OCU
- OCU “priest” calls Orthodox churches “toilets” while cooking show is filmed in Lavra church
- Episcopal Panagia with relics stolen by schismatics in bloody church seizure
- Ukrainian Diocese provides home for priest’s widow and children after eviction by schismatics
- “Not just banned, but under threat of destruction”—Metropolitan Luke on state of Orthodoxy in Ukraine
- Monk still unable to walk after brutal attack on Cherkasy cathedral
- Carpatho-Russian Diocese issues prayer for peace during Nativity Fast
- Ukraine court refuses to release UOC bishop despite Parliament members’ guarantees, won’t review evidence
- Senior UOC hierarch addresses President Trump in letter of hope and peace
- Two Orthodox reporters granted bail in Kiev after months-long detention
- Ukrainian priest beaten and injured at military recruitment center after refusing to join schismatics
- Convicted Ukrainian hierarch appeals to Supreme Court
- ROCOR’s German diocese condemns attack on Orthodox Christians in Cherkasy
- Humanitarian aid delivered to Svyatogorsk Lavra, shelter for refugees
- Persecuted Metropolitan Longin hospitalized after another court session (+VIDEO)
ARTICLES
