Militants Seize Historic UOC Transfiguration Cathedral in Cherkasy Region
Masked OCU-backed group storms 19th-century heritage church in Moshny and forces rector to sign transfer under threat despite valid state agreement with UOC community.
MOSHNY — On Nov. 16, 2025, in the village of Moshny in the Cherkasy region, militants of the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) seized the ancient Transfiguration Cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), members of the community told UOJ-Ukraine. After the Sunday Liturgy, a group of men in balaclavas and with yellow armbands entered the church. Leading the group was an OCU “dean.” After the UOC faithful were driven out of the church, the group of militants began taking inventory of the property.
The UOC rector, Archpriest Oleh Markhilevych, was forced under threats to sign an act of transfer of the church, even though he had no authority to do so. It must be noted that the Transfiguration Church is a national heritage monument and is under state jurisdiction. In the 1990s, a “maintenance agreement” for the church was signed with the UOC community. As the diocesan legal department explained to UOJ, this agreement was never terminated — it was simply illegally ignored. In a video of the seizure, men in balaclavas and yellow armbands stand at the entrance while one woman shouts, “At last, the Transfiguration Church built by Count Vorontsov is ours!”
Shortly before the seizure, “Suspilne Cherkasy” published a segment about the church situation in Moshny, showing the OCU community in the village at a “service” on the Feast of the Protection of the Mother of God. In the footage, besides the “priest,” only five people are present. The OCU cleric claimed that the UOC community had transferred to his structure back in Jan. 2024. The rector of the UOC Transfiguration Church, Archpriest Oleh, stated this was false: no meeting about a transfer ever took place, and supporters of Epiphany Dumenko simply went house to house collecting signatures for an unclear purpose.
The OCU admitted to journalists that “most locals still support the UOC.” What especially irritates Dumenko’s followers is that the UOC is attended by members of the local intelligentsia — doctors and teachers.
At the time the segment aired, in Oct. 2025, the OCU assured that they would not seize the church by force. But later, it appears, they changed their decision.
The Transfiguration Church was built in 1839 by architect Giorgio Torricelli and was consecrated by Kyiv Metropolitan Philaret on Aug. 19, 1840. It was part of the palace-and-park ensemble of Count Mikhail Vorontsov, one of the officials closest to Tsar Nicholas I.
Previously, UOJ reported that an attempted seizure at the Pochaiv Lavra was repelled by seminarians.
