22 June 2025
(Denys Bochkar. Photo: Bridge)
Russians registered an illegal parish of the Russian Orthodox Church. According to the documentation, it was headed by the rector of the Darius Church.
According to the media outlet Mist, this is evidenced by data from Russian registers.
"The illegal religious organization "Orthodox Parish of the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh" was registered in the temporarily occupied village of Zaliznyi Port, Skadovsk district. It belongs to the so-called Skadovsk diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church," the media reported.
According to the registers, the founder of the parish is Archpriest Dionysius (Denis) Bochkar, who is also the rector of this church. According to other sources, it was established that last year Bochkar headed the Church of the Three Saints of the Russian Orthodox Church in Zaliznyi Port.
According to the YouControl platform, Bochkar is also the rector of the Church of the Holy Martyrs and Passionists Borys and Hlib of the UOC in Dariivka, Bilozersky district.
Earlier, the Prosecutor's Office of the Kherson region sent an indictment to the court against the clergyman of the UOC-MP, who is accused of publicly calling for changes in the borders of Ukraine and denying the occupation of part of the state. In<span> September 2022, during his stay in the occupied village of Bilozerka, the priest publicly expressed support for the actions of the aggressor country. </span>In his speeches, he called for changes in Ukraine's borders, supported the occupation of the region and its incorporation into Russia, and spread the ideas of the "Russian world."
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TheIntent continues a series of video conversations with clergymen from southern Ukraine, which aims to show the widest and most complete picture of religious life in the region. We have already visited Father Oleksandr Smerechynsky, and now we offer you a conversation with Seraphima Shevchyk, abbess of the Holy Archangel Michael Monastery of the UOC (MP). We asked her, among other things, whether her church helps the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
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