63 religious organisations have joined Orthodox Church of Ukraine since beginning of 2023

A total of 63 religious organisations have left the Russian-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) and joined the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) since the beginning of 2023. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, 277 religious communities have joined the OCU. Source: Opendatabot, a service monitoring business registration data and the court register in Ukraine

Details: The register of churches linked to the Moscow Patriarchate has seen some changes since its last update in late 2022. Another 63 religious organisations have joined the OCU since the beginning of 2023. A total of 214 religious communities had already joined the OCU between 24 February 2022 and late 2022.

A third of the churches that changed their affiliation (20 churches) are in Kyiv Oblast; 10 each are in Vinnytsia and Khmelnytskyi oblasts.

According to the amendments to the law On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organisations that came into force on the eve of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, religious organisations must declare their ties to the aggressor country in their names.

Some churches, however, are trying to conceal this information. The Ministry of Justice started to address this issue; it has added the following comment to the names of Moscow Patriarchate-linked organisations in the Unified State Register: "FAILED TO INDICATE AFFILIATION TO THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH". Some of the UOC-MP churches, however, have edited the Justice Ministry's designation out of their register entries in an effort to conceal their ties to the Russian Federation.

All of these churches and religious organisations are located in Chernivtsi Oblast, and include the following organisations:

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• Religious community of the parish in honour of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Verkhni Stanivtsi, Kitsman district, Chernivtsi Oblast;
• Religious community of the parish in honour of St Nicholas of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Chernivtsi, Chernivtsi Oblast;
• Religious community of the parish in honour of the Holy Trinity of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Rzhavyntsi, Zastavna district, Chernivtsi Oblast

As of now, 805 churches in Ukraine are still affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate. The majority of these churches are in Donetsk Oblast (638), Khmelnytskyi Oblast (613) and Vinnytsia Oblast (563), just as they were in 2022.

It remains impossible to determine the total number of UOC-MP churches and religious organisations in the Unified State Register, since their names are the only sources of information regarding their affiliations. The Department of Religions of the Ukrainian Culture Ministry told Texty.org that organisations affiliated with the Kyiv Patriarchate of the UOC have a corresponding indication in their name. If the name of an institution says simply "Ukrainian Orthodox Church", without specifying the patriarchate, it is considered to be affiliated with the UOC-MP.

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