After the occupation of part of Ukraine’s territories by Russian troops, religious life there underwent a profound transformation and repression. According to an investigation by Novaya Gazeta Evropa, the number of religious communities in the temporarily occupied territories of four regions has decreased from 1967 to 902. The churches that do not recognize the supremacy of the Moscow Patriarchate are particularly severely persecuted.
Source: radiosvoboda
Destruction of parishes of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and Catholics
In the occupied territories, parishes of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which has autocephalous status and is not subordinate to Moscow, have been completely destroyed. None of the 49 communities of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church remained in operation, and only one of the 15 parishes of the Roman Catholic Church is functioning.
Instead, the churches that are part of the Russian Orthodox Church or have come under its control have mostly maintained their presence, although they have been reduced. For example, the number of parishes of the UOC (which formally declared independence from the ROC but has no legal confirmation) decreased by 1.4 times. Protestant churches suffered the greatest losses – by 3.6 times.
Seizure of churches, repression and desecration of shrines
The Russian military and occupation authorities seize OCU churches, turning them into morgues, concert halls or administrative offices. For example, the OCU church in Mariupol was seized by the Russian Orthodox Church, a morgue was turned into a church in the Novoazovsk district, and the occupiers use the Protestant church in Melitopol as a concert hall for the military.
The journalists note that no legal justification is provided for repressions against religious communities, while priests are persecuted, detained, and subjected to violence.
The Struggle for Spiritual Identity
As early as 2024, the Ukrainian authorities decided to ban religious organizations that have subordination or unity with Russian structures. The law, signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, effectively bans the activities of the UOC (MP), which, although it has declared “independence” from the Russian Orthodox Church, is still in prayerful unity with the Moscow Patriarchate.
The situation recorded by journalists is not just statistics, but evidence of a deep spiritual war that is going on in parallel with armed aggression.
The total destruction of the OCU parishes, Catholic and Protestant communities in the occupied territories is not just religious discrimination, but the deliberate imposition of the spiritual monopoly of the Moscow Patriarchate, accompanied by repression, violence and distortion of Christian truth. This requires an international response, including from religious and human rights organizations.
