The Ukrainian Justice Ministry's decision to deprive the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), the only canonical Orthodox church in the country, of its right to use the buildings of the Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra in the region of Ternopil can be appealed in court, Archpriest Alexander Bakhov, the head of the UOC-MP legal department, said on Saturday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th November, 2018) The Ukrainian Justice Ministry's decision to deprive the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), the only canonical Orthodox church in the country, of its right to use the buildings of the Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra in the region of Ternopil can be appealed in court, Archpriest Alexander Bakhov, the head of the UOC-MP legal department, said on Saturday.On Friday, the Ukrainian Justice Ministry announced that it had deprived the UOC-MP of the right to use the buildings of Pochayiv Lavra that was handed over to the UOC-MP in 2003.
"This decision of the Justice Ministry can be judicially overturned. I ask all the interested individuals not to incite religious discord and to abstain from illegal acts toward the believers and the brethren of the monastery," Bakhov posted on Facebook.
According to Bakhov, the Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra will remain in legitimate use of the UOC-MP monastery brethren, as the cancellation of the state registration did not mean that the monastery lost its right to use the buildings of the lavra.
"The Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra will remain in legitimate use of the UOC monastery brethren. The 2003 agreement on UOC monastery brethren usage of the Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra buildings (such as churches, bell tower, cells, etc.) is valid, and it has not been canceled," Bakhov said in his Facebook post.
The Ternopil Region police has filed a criminal case over allegedly illegal passage of the buildings of the Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra to the UOC-MP on November 15.
The church property issue has recently become acute in Ukraine amid the religious conflict that escalated there.
In October, the Synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate announced that it would proceed to granting independence to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who seeks to establish a single independent church in the country, welcomed.
The Constantinople Patriarchate's decision prompted the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to completely "break the Eucharistic communion" with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Moscow Patriarchate called Constantinople's decision the "legalization of schism," saying that it would have catastrophic consequences and would affect millions of Christians in Ukraine and other countries. The Moscow-affiliated Ukrainian Orthodox Church said that the synod's decision was a hostile act, interfering with the Ukrainian church's affairs, and threatened the Constantinople patriarch with anathema.
