The Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) is an Orthodox cathedral in Cherkasy, the largest church in Ukraine.
It was built between 1994 and 2002 and named after the Archangel Michael.
Address: Cherkasy, Nadpolnaya Street, 212.
On October 17, 2024, a particularly violent seizure of an Orthodox church and diocesan administration building occurred in the city of Cherkasy in central Ukraine.
With the assistance of local authorities and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), armed militants attacked Orthodox Christians and seized the sacred relic.
o On September 22, 2024, Cherkasy Mayor Anatoly Bondarenko posted a photo of the St. Michael's Cathedral of the Cherkasy Diocese of the UOC on his Instagram page, along with a comment that apparently hinted at his intention to "transfer" the church to the OCU.
"One phrase, it's not timely. I believe that we will bury the fallen heroes here with a Ukrainian prayer, who are brought on a shield, and a prayer will be said for those who defend our motherland," his message read.
Посмотреть эту публикацию в Instagram
o The raiders' document crime deserves special mention.
Documents were falsified for the raider takeover of the UOC's St. Michael's Cathedral.
In the case of the cathedral, local OCU activists could not organize a standard raider scheme. Most UOC churches and monasteries are owned by their religious communities.
Raiders organize illegal meetings of territorial communities, at which they imitate the religious communities' decision to allegedly "transfer" the church's parish to the OCU.
However, the late Metropolitan Sophrony, the cathedral's builder, registered the church as the property of the Cherkasy Diocese of the UOC.
Falsifying a parish meeting in such a case makes no sense.
There was an attempt to documentally transfer some non-existent "parish of the Nativity of Christ," but this also bore no fruit.
As a result, the "Metropolitan" of Cherkasy, Ivan Yaremenko, of the OCU, registered a new legal entity at the cathedral's address: "ST. MICHAEL'S GARRISON PARISH OF THE CHERKASSY DIOCESE OF THE UOC (OCU) C. CHERKASSY."
In essence, they created a new legal entity over the old one, under the same address.
o On October 17, at around 3:00 a.m., a group of men in military uniforms stormed the cathedral grounds. They forced the faithful and clergy out of the cathedral and the diocesan office.
The looting of the diocese began, recorded by numerous CCTV cameras.
It's worth noting that the raiders attempted to locate servers, disable cameras, and seize video recordings of the intrusion.
Among the militants who robbed the diocesan administration building, a man wearing an SBU patch was identified as coordinating the raiders' actions.
OCU cleric Nazariy Zasansky, who had attempted to conceal his identity, was identified at the scene.
Among the militants, members of the Cherkasy Volunteer Corps, soldiers of the 3rd Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and activists of the nationalist organization "National Corps" were identified.
Furthermore, Cherkasy City Council deputy Ruslan Batyr was spotted in the middle of the cathedral, posing with stolen liturgical items.
The looting of property belonging to the Cherkasy Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church continued until the early morning.
At around 8:00 AM, Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy and Kaniv arrived at the fence. The bishop and the faithful attempted to enter their territory and were met with violence.
Special weapons were used against parishioners and clergy of the cathedral. Militants in military uniforms were armed with batons and tear gas.
Parishioners and clergy managed to enter the cathedral, where the criminal group had already erected barricades. The raiders beat the faithful right within the church walls.
One of the militants, identified as David Pshenichny, was armed with a gas pistol, which he used against the cathedral parishioners.
The faithful managed to temporarily free the cathedral from the invaders. Metropolitan Theodosius and the clergy entered the diocesan administration building, where they found it completely destroyed.
Militants hired by the OCU stole some liturgical items. Locks were broken on furniture containing diocesan funds, and the money was stolen.
The raiders even stole icons from the cathedral.
At the same time, Cherkasy Mayor Anatoly Bondarenko called on all city activists to carry out a de facto re-assault on the church.
A group of militants, along with local authorities and activists, returned to the cathedral grounds.
The criminals broke down the fence and attacked the church's defenders. Several parishioners suffered serious physical injuries.
Metropolitan Theodosius was struck on the head with an iron bar. His health, and perhaps even his life, were saved by his klobuk (monastic headdress).
Parishioners and clergy were forced to leave the cathedral grounds.
Police, who were present on the cathedral grounds the entire time, took absolutely no action to stop the crime.
A group of OCU clergy entered the cathedral along with the militants and claimed it as their own. The church remains in the hands of the criminal group to this day.
December 23, 2025. Checheliivka. The church was seized by a group of OCU raiders backed by police
A church in the Cherkasy region was seized by a group of OCU militants in uniform. Nationalist groups are likely involved.
Hospital Administration Seized a UOC Church
