More than a thousand religious communities transferred to the OCU after the Russian invasion. Most of them are in the Khmelnytskyi region

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, 1 123 religious communities have transferred from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP) to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).

This was reported by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience at the request of Babel.

Thus, from February 24, 2022 to September 1, 2024, 279 religious communities changed their affiliation from the UOC to the OCU in Khmelnytskyi, 271 — in Kyiv, 119 — in Vinnytsia, and 76 — in Volyn and Cherkasy regions.

In Transcarpathian, Kharkiv region and Kyiv, only four religious communities changed their affiliation from the UOC to the OCU. There are three in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, and only two in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

In the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Luhansk regions, not a single religious community changed its subordination to the UOC MP.

As of January 1, 2024, there were 10 919 UOC MP religious organizations in Ukraine. Of them, there are 10 586 religious communities, 51 religious centers, 214 monasteries, 34 religious brotherhoods, 17 missionary societies (missions), and 17 spiritual primary institutions.

Prohibition of the UOC MP in Ukraine

On September 23, 2024, the law banning the activity of churches connected with Russia entered into force in Ukraine.

The law stipulates that the activities of foreign religious organizations that simultaneously meet the following criteria are prohibited on the territory of Ukraine:

• are located (whose administrative center is located) in a state that is recognized as having carried out or is carrying out armed aggression against Ukraine and/or temporarily occupied part of the territory of Ukraine;
• directly or indirectly (including through public speeches of leaders or other management bodies) support armed aggression against Ukraine.

At the same time, a number of provisions of the law will enter into force later. In particular, the communities of the UOC MP still have seven months to sever ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. After the end of this term, the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience will be able to apply to the court with a claim to terminate the activities of religious organizations that still have such connections at that time.

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