More than 400 religious communities have moved from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine since the full-scale invasion of Russian troops. This is reported by BBC News Ukraine with reference to the representative of the OCU Archbishop of Chernihiv and Nizhyn Zarya.

According to the source, at the Bishops' Council of the OCU in Hagia Sophia on May 24, it was reported that religious communities throughout Ukraine continue to leave the UOC-MP due to Patriarch Kirill's official position regarding Russia's war against Ukraine. So, most parishes changed their subordination in the Khmelnytsky region - there are about 100 of them.

The representative of the OCU also noted that 50 parishes were transferred to the direct leadership of Metropolitan Epiphanius.

The UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate condemns the transition of communities to the OCU and complains about the forcible seizure of churches.

There is no official confirmation of such incidents yet..

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Recall that since February 24, Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church openly supports the actions of the Russian army in Ukraine. Because of this, some of the believers of the UOC-MP refuse to commemorate Cyril and call on Primate Onufry to separate from Moscow.

Earlier it was reported that the synod of the OCU created a monastery on the basis of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.