Almost two thousand religious communities have joined the OCU – Yelenskyi 03.06.2026 18:12 Ukrinform Since 2018, nearly two thousand religious communities have transitioned from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The majority of these transitions occurred peacefully.
This was announced by the Head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, Viktor Yelenskyi, during the presentation of the nationwide survey “Assessment of the Religious Situation in Ukraine,” which took place at Ukrinform.
“After the establishment of the OCU, almost 2,000 communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church joined the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. These are local churches such as the Georgian, Albanian, Polish, and the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia… That is, it’s a significant number of parishes,” stated Yelenskyi.
According to him, these transitions have occurred and continue to occur predominantly in rural areas.
Yelenskyi emphasized that the vast majority of transitions are conducted peacefully. However, there are instances that end up in court.
The Head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience cited a decision by the European Court of Human Rights concerning a case that took place in the village of Ptichya, Rivne region.
He noted that the ECHR’s claim was that the state failed to ensure “the peaceful course of religious life in that settlement.”
As reported, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled on the case of the UOC religious community of the village of Ptichya in the Rivne region, establishing a violation by the state of Ukraine of Article 9 of the Convention (right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion). The conflict and legal proceedings pertained to the community’s right to use the local church.
The confrontation over the Holy Dormition Church in the village of Ptichya between believers of the UOC (who owned the property) and representatives of the UOC of the Kyiv Patriarchate (later the OCU) had been ongoing since 2014. The conflict was accompanied by physical clashes, and the church remained sealed for a long time.
OCU Yelenskyi
Источник: www.ukrinform.ua