Kiev, April 10, 2024
Photo: spzh.media
The National History Museum of Ukraine is collecting funds to demolish Kiev’s Sts. Vladimir and Olga-Tithes Church, which belongs to the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
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 former 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.
In February 2023, the Economic Court of Kiev ruled to dismantle the church, which was later upheld by other court rulings.
In order to comply with the court rulings, the museum has announced a fundraiser, aiming to gather 772,000 hryvnia ($19,840) for “dismantling and garbage removal.”
According to the museum, it can’t rely on state funding during wartime.
And the museum hopes to demolish the church in time for Pascha.
“It would be very symbolic to complete this garbage collection by Pascha! Therefore, we ask all concerned citizens to support the collection. Let’s protect our history and culture together!” the museum staff urges.
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