Two parishes in Bukovina have exited the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

In Bukovina, the religious communities of two villages have exited the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The voting took place on Sunday, January 26, after the divine service. Parishioners from the villages of Pidzakharichi and Dubivtsi have joined the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).

The religious community in Pidzakharichi village, Vyzhnytsia district, voted to leave the UOC-MP and transition to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine during a service at the Church of St. Basil the Great. A total of 65 parishioners attended the meeting, with 61 members voting in favor of the transition, as reported by OCU priest Roman Gryshchuk. Four voters abstained.

On January 26, a similar gathering occurred in Dubivtsi village within the Kitsman community. 115 community members attended the local club meeting, where they unanimously decided to leave the UOC-MP and join the OCU. The assembly also approved the charter of the religious community of the parish dedicated to the Assumption of the Holy Mother of God in Dubivtsi.

Additionally, a week ago, the church community in Komarivtsi village voted to exit the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate following a scandal involving UOC-MP priests at the funeral of a fallen soldier. This voting occurred on Sunday after the divine service on January 19. A total of 146 members of the church community supported the transition to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, while 10 supporters of the UOC-MP refused to participate in the voting.

It is worth noting that there are 376 religious communities in the Chernivtsi region that belong to the UOC-MP. The highest number is found in the Chernivtsi district – 212, followed by Vyzhnytsia district – 48, and Dnistrovskyi district – 95. Meanwhile, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine oversees 169 religious communities.

Since 2019, gatherings have taken place in 43 settlements in the region where citizens have chosen to change their canonical subordination from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Since the onset of full-scale aggression, religious communities in 25 settlements have transitioned from the UOC to the OCU: in 2022, 6 communities, in 2023, 12, and in 2024, 7. Starting from 2025, the religious communities of Dubivtsi and Pidzakharichi are the fourth and fifth, respectively, to have already transitioned to the OCU.