Checheliivka. The church was seized by a group of OCU raiders backed by police

The Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos of the UOC in the village of Checheliivka

Address: Kirovohrad Region, village of Checheliivka, 6 Shkilna Street

The Intercession Church of the UOC in the village of Checheliivka became a target of OCU raiders as early as January 2019. A criminal group of activists set its sights on the church during one of the first waves of church seizures in Ukraine.

The church and its parishioners endured document falsifications and several violent assaults.

For three years, Orthodox Christians and clergy were deprived of access to the church.

🔴 January 29, 2019 Bishop Boholep of Alexandria and Svitlovodsk, the diocesan clergy, and parishioners of the Intercession religious community met with residents of the village of Checheliivka, where a raider seizure of the church was impending.

After a brief prayer service, Bishop Boholep addressed those present, calling on everyone to show mutual courtesy. The hierarch reminded that in discussing religious matters, all kinds of assumptions, personal interpretations, dilettantism, and incompetence are unacceptable. Further discussions concerned issues of spiritual life and the current situation in our country.

Some village residents who were not regular parishioners of the church expressed a desire to belong to the “Ukrainian church,” which caused misunderstanding among members of the religious community: after all, for them the UOC is already a completely Ukrainian church, but first and foremost an Orthodox and canonical Church. According to reports, heated disputes were stopped only after lengthy explanations and persuasion to heed the arguments of the church side.

The three-hour discussion ultimately produced results.

The hierarch also reminded those present that, under Ukrainian law, territorial communities and local authorities have no right to interfere in the life of religious organizations.

(Source: SPZh)

🔴 February 4, 2020 Bishop Boholep of Alexandria and Svitlovodsk reported the illegal re-registration of the Intercession parish into the OCU.

“Recently we received reliable information that, according to an order by the Kirovohrad governor Andrii Balon, two of our communities — namely, the Holy Intercession community of the village of Checheliivka in Petrovske District and the Holy Nicholas community of Oleksandriia District — were transferred to another jurisdiction. The registers of legal entities were changed and completely different information was entered: the leadership was changed,” the hierarch stated.

According to him, the registration of UOC communities, around which disputes have lasted for almost a year, was changed without the knowledge of believers, constituting yet another raider seizure “covered up by pseudo-legal actions of state authorities.”

“We have gone through rather difficult situations related to illegal meetings and the drafting of protocols; the regional administration even initiated the work of a commission with such a fine-sounding name as ‘on compliance with legality in religious relations,’” the bishop explained. “But unfortunately, we encountered a phenomenon that simply astonishes me: from publicly available sources we learned that our communities had been reformatted, their leaders and even their names changed. And the state administration, hiding behind formal legal grounds, did not even bother to inform us about the results of the so-called commission’s work, although we repeatedly officially requested this.”

(Source: SPZh)

🔴 May 14, 2020 In the village of Checheliivka, where the UOC religious community had been illegally re-registered into the OCU in February of that year, OCU activists made another attempt to seize the Holy Intercession Church.

“Thanks to the active position of members of the local religious community, concerned clergy, and believers, the provocative attempt to transfer the church building and material assets to the newly created OCU religious organization was unsuccessful,” the diocesan press service reported. “When representatives of the OCU demanded that the keys to the church be handed over, the rector and those present firmly refused and suggested that the ‘new raiders’ take their claims to court.”

The diocese noted that the Intercession community of Checheliivka once again demonstrated its fidelity to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and is preparing an appropriate lawsuit to defend its constitutional rights.

(Source: SPZh)

🔴 April 5, 2022 Parishioners of the Intercession Church defended their church during an attempted seizure.

A cleric of the Alexandria Diocese, Archpriest Dmytro Horodetskyi, spoke about the attempted seizure of the Intercession Church in the village of Checheliivka, Kirovohrad Region.

At that time, the fate of the church was being decided in court. Despite the ongoing legal proceedings, OCU supporters arrived at the church, demanded that the priest hand over the keys, inflicted bodily harm on parishioners, and attempted to cut the locks off the doors.

UOC believers managed to defend their shrine and prevented the schismatics from seizing the church.

“We want to convey the following: we are not against people coming to the church to pray for peace in our state. We are against people of another denomination entering the church. They call us a Russian Church, although everyone knows that we are the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. We have our position, which our Beatitude announced on the first day of the Russian Federation’s military invasion of our land. We pray for our people, we pray for our army, we help those who have already suffered from the enemy, and we ask that our parish continue to remain safe, because we fear that we could pay for this with our lives,” Archpriest Dmytro Horodetskyi said in a video address.

🔴 November 11, 2023 In the village of Checheliivka, unidentified individuals in camouflage and balaclavas broke down the doors and attempted to seize the Intercession Church of the UOC.

At that time, there was an agreement between the UOC community and OCU supporters that no one would enter the church. The rector was serving in an adapted помещение on the church grounds.

There was no court decision authorizing entry into the church. The last court hearing took place on November 2, with the next scheduled for December.

According to eyewitnesses, representatives of the police and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) participated in the forceful seizure.

“Parishioners of this church have husbands who were killed or went missing in this war. And this is what is happening,” believers say.

🔴 December 23, 2025 A group of OCU raiders seized the Intercession Church.

OCU representatives announced in advance their intention to enter the church, despite the fact that it had been sealed pending a court decision.

From early morning, parishioners prayed at the walls of their sealed shrine. Believers had been unable to enter their church for three years, as under preliminary agreements the church had remained closed.

Police officers were present on the premises. The raiders cut the locks off the doors, after which the police formed a corridor for them.

OCU Archbishop Mark Levkiv announced the conduct of a so-called inventory of property. Throughout this time, he and other OCU clerics insulted Orthodox Christians and incited hatred.

According to eyewitnesses, one member of the OCU group attacked the dean of the Petrovske district, Archpriest Dmytro Horodetskyi.