Kiev, December 10, 2019
The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church under His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine grew by nearly 250 parishes and more than 100 monastics over the past year, according to the report presented by His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Bovary, the chancellor of the UOC, at the Synod meeting on December 6.
The entire report can be read on the site of the Information-Education Department of the UOC.
Despite the fact that the canonical Church and its clergy and faithful faced persecution from their own government and fellow Ukrainians throughout the year, with a number of parishes being seized, whether through violence or illegal re-registrations, their faithfulness to the Lord proved fruitful.
According to the report, the number of parish communities grew from 12,092 at the end of 2018 to 12,338 at the end of this year.
Additionally, 108 Orthodox faithful took monastic vows over the course of 2019, bringing the total number of monastics laboring for Christ in the Ukrainian Church to 4,609, up from 4,501 at the end of 2018.
During the reporting period, 5 ascetics of piety were canonized as locally-venerated saints, and the feasts of the Synaxis of Saints of Izyum and the Synaxis of Kiev Theological Academy Saints were established.
5 hierarchs were consecrated over the course of the past year.
