Schismatics Seize St. Alexander Nevsky Church in Odessa

DECR Communication Service, 24/06/2026

On 23^rd June 2026, in Odessa, Ukraine, unidentified men seized by force the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky belonging to the Diocese of Odessa of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. A “cleric” of the schismatic OCU in Odessa, Theodore Orobets, said that his organization intended to rename the seized church in honour of the Venerable Agapitus of the Kyiv Caves, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists. It was also reported that during the church seizure the individuals involved had beaten up the secretary of the Odessa Diocese.

Orobets posted a video showing a group of men walking across the church grounds and entering the building. According to him, those were “the real parishioners entering their church.”

In another video recorded inside the church, Orobets expresses his indignation at a fresco depicting the Royal Passion-Bearers, as well as St. Andrew Bogolyubsky and St. Dmitry Donskoy. He also says that icons of the Blessed Matrona of Moscow and Xenia of Petersburg, kept in the church, are “markers of Moscow’s religious life.”

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Schismatics Seize St. Alexander Nevsky Church in Odessa

Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons

Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons