Cherkasy, Cherkasy Province, Ukraine, October 29, 2025
Schismatics serving in a nearly empty cathedral
A year after the violent takeover of the Archangel Michael Cathedral in Cherkasy, the seized church remains largely deserted despite being the largest cathedral in Ukraine. The emptiness persists even as church seizures continue throughout Cherkasy, where the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church now retains only two out of ten churches in the city.
The cathedral was seized on October 17, 2024, in one of the bloodiest church takeovers since the creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in 2018.
During the violent incident, His Eminence Metropolitan Theodosy of Cherkasy was attacked and struck on the head with a baseball bat, along with other Orthodox clergy and parishioners. The hierarch suffered a concussion and eye and skin burns, requiring hospital treatment. “According to criminologists who analyzed the attack footage, when the supporter of the OCU struck me on the head with a baseball bat, it was a clear attempt at premeditated murder,” Met. Theodosy later stated, noting that his klobuk softened the blow.
A post from the First Cossack describes the current state of the cathedral one year after its seizure:
A year after the barbaric capture of the Holy Archangel Michael Cathedral in Cherkasy.
How many hired militants came to take away the holy site from Orthodox Christians, how many criminals spilled the blood of clergy and parishioners of the UOC, how many thieves mercilessly looted the diocesan administration.
And now, even a year later, there is emptiness in the OCU-occupied holy site. Total emptiness in the largest cathedral in Ukraine, which photographers of the Cherkasy OCU are unable to hide.
Cherkasy’s chief raider Yaremenko is no longer able to gather even his former crowds.
Nor to pay even a kopeck for utilities in the occupied holy site.
The situation in Cherkasy continues to deteriorate for the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Mayor Anatoly Bondarenko, who organized the seizure of several UOC churches in the city, recently stated that out of ten Orthodox churches in Cherkasy, eight have now been taken over.
According to the anti-Orthodox official, the canonical UOC currently remains in only two churches in the city, which he described as a temporary situation that he expects the community to “correct” in the near future.
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