More than 70 UOC communities operate outside Ukraine

The opening of an UOC church in Worms (Germany). Photo: Khmelnytskyi Eparchy’s Facebook page

There are already more than 70 communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church outside Ukraine. This was announced during the opening of the first standard temple of the UOC in Western Europe by the Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations, Archpriest Mykola Danilevych.

"At the moment, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has abroad more than 50 parishes and about 20 pastoral missions, most of which have every opportunity to become full-fledged parishes," said Fr. Mykola. “That is, in general, we have more than 70 large and smaller communities abroad."

According to the Deputy Head of the DECR, about half of the UOC's foreign communities are in Germany.

He stressed that the opening of parishes is initiated by the believers themselves – both Ukrainian citizens who found themselves abroad because of Russian aggression and representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora living in other countries since pre-war times.

"Our citizens, Ukrainians, ask us to open parishes abroad. We do not have large financial capacities, but people themselves gather to help," said Fr. Mykola.

He also noted that foreign parishes of the UOC serve in different languages – Church Slavonic, Ukrainian and Romanian.

As reported, on 14 November 2023, in the city of Worms (Germany), a new parish of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was opened, which will be the first among the parishes of the UOC in Western Europe to perform divine services in a standard Orthodox church.

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