Attempted Cathedral Seizure with Police Support Four years ago, when I was conducting a series of expert interviews in Ukraine, it was Bukovina—a region in western Ukraine on the border with Romania—that left me with the strongest impressions and emotions. Beautiful nature, kind-hearted people, and strong Orthodox parishes. One could feel the prosperity and grace of these lands, where Christians labor diligently for their daily bread, and yet do not forget to offer heartfelt prayers in their churches, giving the best of themselves for the good of their native Church.
Even then, in 2021, issues related to the activities of the OCU (Orthodox Church of Ukraine) were noticeable in Bukovina, though not as sharply as in other regions. Representatives of this “autocephalous” religious structure behaved in a way far removed from Christian principles, seeking to take over parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). They appealed strongly to national sentiments, portraying their opponents as traitors or “agents of Moscow.”
At the time, certain restraining factors were still in effect, including at the regional level. But after the outbreak of war in 2022, the hands of the OCU supporters were completely untied: the authorities, security forces, and media openly took their side. Their main objective became the “transfer” of churches into the new jurisdiction—through deceit, blackmail, and force. Over the span of three years, more than a thousand such “transfers” have been documented, including the seizure last year of the UOC’s largest church in Cherkasy.
As for Bukovina, the main events unfolded quite recently, in mid-June, in the regional center, Chernivtsi. OCU supporters, led by their “priest,” attempted to take control of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. Surveillance footage shows that during the seizure, a UOC priest, Fr. Roman, was brutally beaten—knocked to the ground, struck repeatedly, and then dragged outside the gates. He suffered broken ribs, internal injuries, and head trauma. Parishioners were also injured.
OCU supporters in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit
A painfully familiar scene: this, sadly, is how such seizures are carried out in many regions of Ukraine when yet another UOC church is to be “confiscated.”
However, this time the OCU group did not succeed in completing their dark deed. Thousands of UOC parishioners arrived at the cathedral. The few dozen “activists” who had barricaded themselves inside (and had helped themselves to the church’s funds) were forced to flee under police protection.
The priest’s deep lacerations from the beating Chernivtsi is not just a spot on the map for me—it holds personal memories. So I decided to see how Ukrainian media were covering this painful event. After all, as the “fourth estate,” they play a significant role in shaping public opinion and influencing the mindset of the people. To say I was shocked by the coverage would be an understatement. The reports were so distorted that the victim—the UOC—was portrayed as the aggressor. One news channel, for instance, referred to a “scuffle near the cathedral in Chernivtsi,” allegedly provoked by UOC believers trying to prevent “patriots” from peacefully praying in Ukrainian. This narrative became the dominant one in the media (perhaps deliberately so): “aggressive” UOC faithful trying to disrupt the “first Ukrainian-language service in the cathedral,” breaking fences and forcing doors open.
OCU group fleeing the cathedral under police cover In video segments broadcast by Ukrainian TV, we see only the moment when UOC faithful are “storming” the church grounds to liberate it from the occupiers. There is conflict with police, tear gas is used. Everything seems properly reported—until you consider a crucial “detail”: Hours before this “storming,” dozens of OCU “patriots” had occupied the cathedral, brutally beating the priest and the faithful. That part is left out. Likewise, the footage omits how these same OCU “worshippers,” their faces covered with balaclavas and gauze masks, fled through a police-cleared corridor. In Ukrainian media stories, the group that seized the cathedral is completely ignored.
Instead, journalists focused on criticizing the UOC faithful (who had come to their own church) to sing, “Christ is risen from the dead…”—because, they claimed, it was not sung in Ukrainian. Yet it wasn’t in Russian either (if language is so critical). The Paschal troparion was chanted in Church Slavonic, the primary liturgical language of the UOC.
The media also reported that around thirty people sought medical attention—conveniently omitting that most of them were UOC parishioners beaten by the OCU’s “seizure group.”
Metropolitan Meletiy standing before the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit © H / Glavkom
The distortion of facts, deliberate manipulation of the timeline, and complete disregard for cause and effect—how can journalists not feel ashamed as they dishonor their profession? One may well hate Moscow (and many Ukrainians undoubtedly have serious reasons to do so), but why trample your own people into the mud—people who have prayed for years in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit? The thousands who came to defend the church are also Ukrainians, local residents—not some mythical “Kremlin agents.” And to juxtapose their defense with a refugee from Kharkiv speaking about bombings and Russian tanks only stirs up even more hatred toward their fellow citizens.
UOC parishioners after the cathedral was reclaimed. Photo: Union of Orthodox Journalists
It’s hard to say when I’ll next be able to visit Chernivtsi. But if that day comes, I dearly hope there will still be a chance—as there was in 2021—to pray once more in the beautiful Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, a beloved house of worship for generations of Ukrainian Orthodox believers. To pray also for peace upon the war-torn and wounded land of long-suffering Ukraine.
