Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church

The Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church (Ukrainian: Українська Автономна Православна Церква, romanized: Ukraïns'ka Avtonomna Pravoslavna Tserkva) was a short-lived confession that existed on territory of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine at the time when Ukraine was occupied by Nazi Germany during the Second World War.

[1] At the same time, the bishops rejected the idea of Ukraine being the canonical territory of the Polish Orthodox Church, although the Polish Orthodox Metropolitan Dionysius continued to claim jurisdiction over the Western Ukrainian territories formerly controlled by Poland between the World Wars.

The UAOC's influence spread from Volhynia to the Dnieper Ukraine, where several parishes and monasteries joined the church, including the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, the cradle of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in the region.

Under the pressure from his synod of bishops, Alexy later renounced the union, withdrawing his signature, and on 7 May 1943 he was murdered, it is said by nationalists from the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, who saw this as an act of treason.

After the murder of Metropolitan Alexy, the church was led by Archbishop Panteleymon (Rudyk) and the relationship with the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church remained tense throughout 1943–44, by which time the Red Army offensive pushed the German invaders out of Ukraine.