Chervone, Zhytomyr Province, Ukraine, January 18, 2024
Photo: spzh.media
In a decision earlier this week, Ukrainian courts ordered the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church to give up more monastery property.
In September, the Economic Court of the Zhytomyr Province satisfied the claim of the local prosecutor’s office, obliging the Church to transfer ownership of the Tereschenko Palace, part of Holy Nativity Monastery in the village of Chervone, to the estate.
And on Monday, January 15, the courts rejected the Church’s appeal, thereby obliging it to transfer the building to the state, reports the Ministry of Culture.
The Tereschenko Palace is recognized as a Zhytomyr Province monument of history and architecture.
As the Zhytomyr Diocese reports, the building was transferred to the ownership of the diocese in September 2000. The monument was received in a semi-ruined state and was renovated over the years at the Church’s expense. It has been part of a monastery of the UOC since October 2000.
The state has already evicted the Church from the upper section of the Holy Dormition-Kiev Caves Lavra, and the courts have ruled that it must leave the Lower Lavra as well, though the Church remains for now. The authorities are also going after properties in the Ternopil Province, among other locations.
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