Chernivtsi, Chernivtsi Province, Ukraine, February 27, 2025
Photo: Orthobuk
The Orthodox flock of Chernivtsi have been defending their cathedral against seizure for more than a week now.
Although the faithful have confirmed their loyalty to Christ in His holy Orthodox Church under His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, the radicals of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” held their own illegitimate vote to force the Holy Spirit Cathedral and other Chernivtsi churches into their schism.
And having learned of plans to violently seize the physical church buildings, local Orthodox Christians gathered at the cathedral, the Church of St. Nicholas, and the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul on the night of February 19-20 to defend their holy sites.
Since then, they have maintained a round-the-clock watch for more than a week, prayerfully protecting their churches, reports Orthobuk.
Meanwhile, the three churches were re-registered with the authorities yesterday in the name of Yaroslav Bodoryak who is actually the “bishop” of the schismatic OCU in Chernivtsi, the canonical UOC’s Information-Education Department reports.
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