After a scandal involving a soldier's funeral, a village community in Bukovina has severed ties with the Moscow Patriarchate.

In Bukovina, the church community of the village of Komarivtsi voted to leave the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate following a scandal involving UOC MP priests at the funeral of a fallen soldier. The vote took place on Sunday after the divine service on January 19. A total of 146 members of the church community voted for the transition to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, while 10 supporters of the UOC MP refused to participate in the voting.

Members of the church community in Komarivtsi, part of the Storozhynetska community, held a meeting regarding their exit from the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate and their transition to the OCU. The gathering took place on Sunday in front of the local administration building, as reported by OCU priest Roman Hryshchuk. The new community was named the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos Church of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese of the OCU.

A total of 146 community members voted in favor of the transition. There were also 10 representatives from the UOC MP community present at the meeting, who announced that they would not participate in the voting.

This decision to transition from the UOC MP to the OCU in Komarivtsi was made after a conflict was provoked by Moscow Patriarchate priests and their supporters at the funeral of fallen soldier Pavlo Unguryan on January 13. Initially, the UOC MP parish allowed military chaplains to conduct the funeral service in the church of Komarivtsi. However, other priests from the Moscow Patriarchate arrived with their followers, began shouting, and insulting the military personnel attending the funeral. The military chaplains were also denied access to the church's sacristy.

It is worth noting that there are 378 religious communities in Chernivtsi Oblast belonging to the UOC MP. The majority are located in the Chernivtsi district – 213, in the Vyzhnytsia district – 49, and in the Dniester district – 95. Meanwhile, 167 religious communities are under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Since 2019, meetings of citizens have been held in 43 localities in the region, deciding to change their canonical subordination from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Since the onset of the full-scale aggression, religious communities in 25 localities have transitioned from the UOC to the OCU: 6 religious communities in 2022, 12 in 2023, and 7 in 2024. As of early 2025, the religious community of Komarivtsi is the third to have transitioned to the OCU.