Ukraine: court orders destruction of Tithes Church, built on site of first Kievan cathedral

Kiev, February 16, 2023

Photo: strana.today Photo: strana.today     

The Economic Court of Kiev ruled yesterday to dismantle the Sts. Vladimir and Olga Church of the Tithes Monastery in Kiev.

Ukrainian nationalists and authorities have been trying to dismantle the church since at least 2018, during the time of President Petro Poroshenko, arguing that it was illegally built on the territory of the National History Museum.

The church was built by Kiev residents in 2006 with the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and All Ukraine on the site of the Church of the Tithes—the first cathedral of Kievan Rus’, which was blown up in 1936.

The new church was vandalized and set on fire on January 25, 2018. On February 3, about 200 radicals staged a protest near the monastery, calling for its dismantling. More than 3,000 came out to defend the monastery on the same day. The abbot of the Tithes Monastery, His Grace Bishop Gideon of Makarov, was temporarily deprived of his Ukrainian citizenship in 2019-2020 after he spoke out about the persecution of the Church.

Minister of Culture and Information Policy Alexander Tkachenko announced the new court decision yesterday, arguing that the presence of a church on museum territory “contradicts its intended use.”

The church “is located in the buffer zone of UNESCO monuments, where new construction is prohibited, and also violates the ensemble of the Tithes Church historical archaeological complex,” the Minister writes.

Such a decision is an “open challenge to Ukrainian Orthodox Christians,” His Eminence Metropolitan Kliment of Nezhin, head of the UOC’s Information-Education Department, told the Ukrainian outlet Strana.

The modern Ukrainian state is completely copying Lenin’s ideas about the fight against religion, he said. “First, these people turn the Churches of the Lavra into a place for concerts. And today they’re generally proposing to demolish a church.”

“There was already a period when they started with the destruction of churches and ended with atheistic terror and mass repressions against believers. This will be nothing new,” the Metropolitan said.

Read more about the history of the Tithes Church in the article, “The Much-Suffering Monastery,” an interview with Bp. Gideon, the abbot of the monastery.

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2/16/2023

See also
Kiev court begins hearing case against ancient Tithes Monastery Kiev court begins hearing case against ancient Tithes Monastery Kiev court begins hearing case against ancient Tithes Monastery Kiev court begins hearing case against ancient Tithes Monastery
The first session against the ancient Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos-Tithes Monastery in Kiev was heard yesterday in the city’s District Administrative Court. 20,000 signatures collected in support of Kiev’s Tithes Monastery 20,000 signatures collected in support of Kiev’s Tithes Monastery 20,000 signatures collected in support of Kiev’s Tithes Monastery 20,000 signatures collected in support of Kiev’s Tithes Monastery
A petition in support of the Tithes Monastery in Kiev, which has been under constant attack and threat lately, entitled “On Ensuring the Right to Freedom of Religion for the Faithful of the UOC [Ukrainian Orthodox Church—O.C.] and Public Order Around the Tithes Church (Chapel)” has gathered more than 20,000 signatures. The Much-Suffering Monastery The Much-Suffering Monastery
Archimandrite Gideon (Kharon) The Much-Suffering Monastery The Much-Suffering Monastery
A talk with Archimandrite Gideon (Kharon), Father-Superior of the Monastery “of the Tithes” in Kiev
Sergei Geruk, Archimandrite Gideon (Kharon)
Our talk with Archimandrite Gideon took place at the period of the trials that befell the monastery in late January and February this year.
Comments
Panagiotis2/18/2023 5:24 am
This is not a surprise to me that the gangsters of the corrupt Ukraine want to destroy this Orthodox Church. This is symbolic of how they want to destroy Orthodoxy in the Ukraine. Simply astonishing since the Ukraine has always been an Orthodox Nation. Also astonishing that three top leaders of the Ukraine are not Orthodox Christians. In fact they are not even ethnic Ukrainians, I.E. the president, defense minister, and prime minister of the Ukraine are all ethnic Ashkenazi, I.E. they are not ethnic Ukrainians, who Are Slavic People like their Russian Brothers..... We see history repeating itself. The demonic Bolsheviks and satanic communists destroyed tens of thousands of our Churches, Monasteries, and Religious Schools, in a continual frenzy of satanic madness. They savagely murdered tens of millions of our people, including little children, elderly, and women, including millions in the Ukraine. Three leading monsters who were responsible for this genocide of the Ukrainian People were the "Satanic Three", I.E. Leon Trotsky (born Leiba Bronstein), Lazar Kaganovich, and Genrikh Yagoda, all three born in the Ukraine. The demon Kaganovich oversaw the destruction of the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow and other Churches, that he smiled as they were destroyed. His sister was allegedly Joseph Stalin's mistress and later his wife. Historical facts that they do not want you to know. I urge all of my Orthodox Brothers to support our Orthodox Brothers in the Ukraine and to support our Russian Orthodox Brothers. The sinister internationalists want to destroy all of our Orthodox People, and that is why they are trying to first destroy the conservative Russian Orthodox Church and conservative Russia, because if they can accomplish this diabolical deed then they will be able to destroy all of the other Orthodox Churches. But some of our own people are too stupid and too brainwashed to see this. God Almighty in Heaven give our people knowledge. All glory to our God. Just my humble opinion.
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