Dnieper Ukraine
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. The spread of the church brought about a fierce rivalry within the church, which was suppressed by the Soviet authorities but revived under the German occupation. Metropolitan Alexy and Bishop Mstyslav of the Autocephalous Church attempted unification of the two churches, and an Act of Unity was signed in Pochaiv on 8 October 1942. 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.