Kamenets-Podolsk and Ternopil, Ukraine, December 26, 2023
Photo: Church of St. Nicholas in Kamenets-Podolsk. Photo: news.church.ua
Amidst the ongoing state-sponsored persecution against holy Orthodoxy in Ukraine, with churches and monasteries being seized both by physical force and by decree, the parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church remain faithful to Christ and are able to celebrate the occasional “victory.”
On December 20, the Supreme Court of Ukraine overturned the June 29 decision of the Economic Court of the Khmelnitsky Province to evict the parish community of the Church of St. Nicholas in Kamenets-Podolsk and transfer the church to the Kamenets National Historical and Architectural Preserve.
Leading up to the June ruling, the director of the Kamenets Preserve arbitrarily terminated the lease with the UOC in February, demanding that the parishioners give up the church they had been praying in since 1990. Then in April, the Kamenets-Podolsk City Council voted to deprive the Church of 20 land plots, calling the UOC “the enemy Church.”
However, as of December 20, the validity of the Economic Court’s ruling is invalid, according to the Supreme Court decision, reports the Information-Education Department of the UOC.
Church of Sts. Sophia, Faith, Hope, and Love. Photo: Wikipedia
And on December 23, the Ternopil Economic Court overturned the decision of the City Council from April, which deprived the UOC of its Church of the Holy Martyrs Sophia, Faith, Hope, and Love.
The Ternopil City Council has already announced that it will appeal the court’s decision, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists with reference to 20 Khvilin.
The press service of the Ternopil Diocese stated that it will comment on the decision once it enters into force.
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