Shepetovka. An aggressive mob seized the Archangel Michael Cathedral.

St. Michael the Archangel Cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Address: Khmelnytskyi Region, Shepetivka, 27 Mira Avenue

The St. Michael the Archangel Cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Shepetivka was seized by an aggressive mob during the 2023 state-sponsored anti-church campaign.

Following a series of provocations and unprecedented incitement of hatred against Orthodox Christians by the government, militants and raiders seized several cathedrals in various parts of Ukraine.

Both the falsification of documents and the storming of the cathedral took place under the supervision of local authorities and the city mayor himself.

The congregation and clergy of the cathedral survived several raider attempts and the brutal desecration of their church.

Attempts to seize the cathedral began on May 7, 2022.

The main organizer was Shepetivka Mayor Vitaliy Buzil.

From early morning, a group of unknown individuals blocked the entrance to the cathedral and prevented Orthodox residents of the city from attending services.
By 6:00 PM, several thousand people with no connection to the cathedral parish, along with several OCU clergy, had gathered on the church grounds.
Under the leadership of officials, a vote began to "transition" to Epiphanius's structure and "extract" Orthodox clergy from the community.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Eusebius of Shepetivka and Slavuta and 500 Orthodox Christians prayed in the church.

Buzil organized illegal gatherings of the territorial community, where people with no connection to the religious community voted to transfer the church to the OCU.

On June 7, 2022, a group of activists and OCU clergy, with the forceful assistance of unknown individuals, attempted to enter the cathedral and conduct their rites there.

They already had in hand a freshly registered charter, signed by Mayor Buzil.

Cathedral parishioners prevented the criminal group from entering their territory.

On July 7, 2022, the cathedral was illegally re-registered as property of the OCU.

Information about this was published on the city administration's website, further indicating its involvement.

On July 20, 2022, several provocations occurred near the cathedral.

Unknown young men entered the church and locked themselves inside. According to reports from the scene, an elderly parishioner on duty at the church was literally taken hostage.

She felt dizzy, but the hostage-takers refused to allow paramedics into the church for a long time.

Meanwhile, several trucks drove onto the cathedral grounds, carrying wooden shields and tires used by OCU supporters to build barricades.

The only thing that prevented the cathedral from being seized was the large number of believers gathered near the shrine, and police intervention prevented it from being seized.

On April 8, 2023, supporters of the OCU in the city of Shepetivka stormed St. Michael's Cathedral.

According to reports from the scene, an aggressive crowd approached the church and demanded that the believers surrender the cathedral to them.

Most of the parishioners, along with the bishop, were on the porch, defending the cathedral from the raiders. Some of the faithful locked themselves inside the church and prayed.

A group of five men in military uniforms cut the locks with a grinder and broke into the church.

After this, the defense of the cathedral was breached. The raiders tore down the cathedral door from the inside, and the police created a corridor for the crowd, which overran the cathedral and desecrated the altar.

The activists dragged the parishioners who remained inside the cathedral by their clothes.