Orthodox Christian parishes in Ukraine's Volyn region are most active in joining the newly created Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
The number of the parishes in that region which have left the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) and joined the new church is almost one hundred, while the total number of the previously registered UOC-MP parishes there exceeds 600, according to an interactive map available on the TV news service TSN.ua.
Almost over 400 parishes across Ukraine have decided to change their denomination and join the new church.
Also, parishes in Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Zhytomyr, Rivne, and Lviv region actively join the new church.
In particular, all former UOC-MP parishes in Lviv region's Sokal district changed their denomination.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Unification Council of members of the Ukrainian Orthodox churches in Kyiv on December 15 elected Metropolitan of Pereyaslavsky and Bila Tserkva from the then Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate Epifaniy (also known as Epiphanius I) as head of the new local Orthodox church in Ukraine. On January 6, Epifaniy, as Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, received from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in Istanbul the tomos of autocephaly (independence) of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine Epifaniy was inaugurated as Primate of the newly created Orthodox Church of Ukraine at Kyiv's Saint Sophia Cathedral on February 3.
