On April 17, occupiers registered the religious organization "Skadovsk Eparchy of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)" in the Russian state register, with the Russian Orthodox Church listed as its founder.
This was reported by the Genichesk UA telegram channel.
The acting head of the eparchy is appointed as Alexiy (Ovsyannikov). Personal sanctions were imposed on him by the Ukrainian authorities in January 2023.
Bishop Alexiy (Ovsyannikov Alexander Aleksandrovich) was born on November 23, 1973, in the village of Studenok, Izium district, Kharkiv region. In 2004, he graduated from the Kyiv Theological Academy and served as a cleric in the Zhytomyr Eparchy of the UOC-MP.
On January 2, 2022, Metropolitan Onufriy of the UOC-MP conducted the ordination ceremony of Archimandrite Alexiy to the bishopric of the Jankoy and Rozdolne eparchies in occupied Crimea at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
The legal address of the illegal religious organization of the Russian Orthodox Church is Skadovsk, Sergiivska Street, Building 23. The St. Sergius Church is located at this address.
It is worth mentioning that on December 27, 2023, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church created a new eparchy in the occupied left-bank part of the Kherson region.
Due to the "practical impossibility for His Eminence Metropolitan of Kherson and Taurida John to manage the parishes and monasteries of the Kherson Eparchy located on the left bank of the Dnipro River", as well as "due to the impossibility of resolving this situation smoothly, the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to create a new eparchy within the administrative boundaries of the left-bank districts of the Kherson region - Skadovsk Eparchy with its center in the city of Skadovsk, separating it from the Kherson Eparchy.
Temporary administration of the Skadovsk Eparchy was entrusted to Bishop Jankoy and Rozdolne Alexiy.