{"id":1344841,"date":"2026-01-15T15:30:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T13:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/the-church-of-onuphry-knows-no-evil-how-an-underground-school-was-discovered-in-cherkasy-region\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T06:41:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T04:41:59","slug":"the-church-of-onuphry-knows-no-evil-how-an-underground-school-was-discovered-in-cherkasy-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/the-church-of-onuphry-knows-no-evil-how-an-underground-school-was-discovered-in-cherkasy-region\/","title":{"rendered":"Holy Innocence: How an Underground School Operated Under the Church of Onuphry in Cherkasy Region"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: Author’s Facebook<\/a> page<\/em><\/p>\n

Journalists in the Cherkasy region have uncovered an underground Orthodox school linked to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which formally claims no ties to the Moscow Patriarchate. The irony is that the Cherkasy diocese openly showcased the school\u2019s activities on its Facebook page.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Among the founders of the \u201cCherkasy Orthodox Gymnasium named after St. Sergius of Radonezh\u201d<\/strong>\u2014the name used in the video\u2014is Metropolitan Feodosii<\/strong> of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (officially described as not affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate<\/em>). He has been on trial for more than two years on charges of inciting interfaith hatred and conducting subversive activities against Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Formally, this so-called \u201cOrthodox gymnasium\u201d is registered as a third-group private entrepreneur<\/strong>, with its declared activity listed as \u201ctutoring.\u201d<\/strong> Both the self-proclaimed \u201cdirector of the gymnasium\u201d and the same private entrepreneur, Degterenko<\/strong>, deny the existence of any school. They claim that she is engaged in animal husbandry and provides tutoring services\u2014including, notably, hiring teachers for this purpose.<\/p>\n

The registered address of this private entrepreneur is not in Cherkasy itself but in the village of Chornyavka<\/strong>, some 30 kilometres from the city\u2014an unusual location, to say the least, for a tutoring business.<\/p>\n

Journalists at Suspilne<\/strong> carried out the investigation.<\/p>\n

The case is strikingly familiar. Recently, journalists uncovered a similar underground school in Kyiv at the Holosiivska Pustyn Monastery<\/strong>. There, children were taught using Soviet-era textbooks and shown Russian films. The class schedule even included a subject titled \u201cSlavic Language,\u201d<\/strong> which journalists were told was, in fact, a Russian language lesson.<\/p>\n\t\t