Blasphemy at the altar and beaten parishioners – the true face of the OCU?
In a Bukovyna village, a group of bandits beat the parishioners bloody, desecrated the altar, and took over the church for several hours. They were led by a man in a hood.
On the night of April 8-9, 2025, in the village of Verkhni Stanivtsi, Chernivtsi region, a group of bandits, having cut the locks and broken the doors, seized the UOC temple. Several female parishioners tried to stop them, for which they immediately paid the price: one girl had her head smashed with a stick. Shortly thereafter, the bandits were expelled from the temple.
However, what the believers saw in the altar was shocking. Sacred vestments were scattered on the floor, the altar was desecrated, and the sacristy was devastated. It was evident from the behavior in the sanctuary that the people who temporarily seized the temple were not Christians but godless individuals. The parishioners of the St. Nickolas Church were astonished to find out that the gang of mercenaries was led by the cleric of the OCU, Roman Hryshchuk. And although he tried to hide his face under the hood of his hoodie, the parishioners of the St. Nocholas Church recognized him.
Hryshchuk – not just a participant but an organizer of violence
Before the events in Verkhni Stanivtsi, the OCU representative, Roman Hryshchuk, limited himself to incitement – he made insulting statements against UOC believers, published provocative posts, and called for seizures. Sometimes he appeared in a cassock at "votes" near churches, but he had never personally taken a crowbar or an angle grinder. However, in Verkhni Stanivtsi, Hryshchuk crossed that line: he directly led the break-in of the temple and even, as one of the parishioners claims, used force against them.
In the video footage obtained by the UOJ, we see how parishioners ask him why he is violating the Commandment of God "Thou shalt not steal", and why his colleagues are beating women. After this, Hryshchuk is taken aside. But there is no doubt that it was indeed him.
Let us remind you that during the attempted seizure, one of the UOC parishioners sustained a serious head injury. And even if Hryshchuk did not strike the blow himself, as the coordinator of the seizure, he is fully responsible for the actions of his team.
Desecration of the sanctuary
After the temple was seized, the radicals led by Hryshchuk burst into the altar. They scattered the temple's sacred items, but the most terrible thing was the desecration of the Holy of Holies. We do not know what they did to the Table of Oblation (the place where the Proskomedia is performed), but the footage clearly shows that the doors of the altar are wide open, and the tabernacle (the vessel in which the Body and Blood of Christ are kept) is missing from the altar.
From the perspective of the fullness of the Orthodox Church, including the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the UOC is a canonical Church, and its Sacraments are gracious and valid. This means that the altar (as well as the temple itself) should evoke at least a sense of reverence even from any Christian. But... As we can see, the sanctities of the temple only provoked in them a fit of malice and unmotivated, anti-Christian aggression.
That is why what happened cannot be regarded as anything other than sacrilege, and moreover, conscious sacrilege. Even after seizing the temple, the radicals had no need to enter the altar, let alone commit any destructive actions there.
Any Orthodox Christian knows: the altar is the holiest place in the temple. Even entering it without a blessing is a sin. And doing what Hryshchuk and his companions did is a crime against God. Therefore, everything that happened in Verkhni Stanivtsi does not fit into the logic of Christian life. And it has nothing in common with the Church or the Gospel.
Will there be a reaction?
Roman Hryshchuk is not an ordinary activist; he is a public figure of the OCU. His social media features photos together with Epifaniy Dumenko. He regularly makes political statements in which he calls for the "cleansing" of the UOC. Hryshchuk not only justifies the persecution of believers but also calls for it. It was he who wrote that attending UOC temples is a "vote for Russian occupation".
Now his activities go beyond just aggressive rhetoric. The OCU cleric has become not just a propagandist - he has become a direct participant in criminal acts.
And in this regard, a very reasonable question arises: what will the leadership of the OCU say about all this? What will Epifaniy say? Will Hryshchuk be suspended from ministry? Or will he be rewarded for a “successful cleansing”?
The second, no less important question is what will the Local Churches that recognized the OCU as a canonical Church say? They face the question: is it possible to communicate with representatives of an organization whose clerics lead the desecration of the sanctuary?
We are sure that if in any European country a group of radicals led by a clergyman burst into a temple of another denomination, beat women bloody, and desecrated sanctities, there would be a state-level scandal: criminal cases, condemnation from the authorities, the media, etc.
Moreover, let us just imagine that this clergyman was photographed with the head of his denomination and often appeared in the media. What would the reaction be? Surely, it would be very intense. But here in Ukraine – silence. No reaction from law enforcement agencies. Not a single statement from those Local Churches that commemorate Epifaniy at every Liturgy. Not a single attempt to stop the violence.
When will the end begin?
History has seen cases where authorities turned a blind eye to crimes if they were committed “for the good” of the people or the nation. Those stories always ended in violence and bloodshed. And it is unlikely that anything has changed today. If women are beaten with impunity in the temple today, they may start shooting tomorrow.
In this sense, Roman Hryshchuk is not just an odious figure, "of whom there is no number" in the OCU. He is a symptom of a disease that has infected the Ukrainian religious and political system. A disease where, instead of human rights and the rights of believers, there is lawlessness; instead of Christianity, the preaching of hatred and violence; instead of a striving for holiness, blasphemous acts of vandalism. There are not even suitable words to describe what our eyes see.
Churches are being cynically and demonstratively taken away from believers, churches are being burned and destroyed with bulldozers. Clergy are beaten and insulted, and criminal charges are brought against them for “inciting hatred” (when it seems clear that charges should be brought against people like Hryshchuk). Believers of the UOC have turned into some sort of third class, into "non-citizens," who have absolutely no rights. And it is clear that as Christians, we should not respond to evil with evil. But we must speak the truth.
The truth that must be known in other Churches. And if we are not heard in Ukraine, perhaps we will be heard at least where the Unbloody Sacrifice is offered?
And the Ukrainian state — if it wishes to preserve even the remnants of legality — must respond immediately to Hryshchuk's actions. He must be held accountable under the laws of Ukraine. He simply cannot go unpunished. Because otherwise — this will be a repetition of the 1930s, only on a new historical turn.
