Kiev, May 27, 2024
Photo: Facebook According to the head of the Eurosolidarity faction in the Kiev City Council, Marina Poroshenko, the Council recently voted for two draft decisions according to which dozens of Orthodox Churches will be “inspected” for “legality of use.”
The news comes just a week after Kiev’s Tithes Church was demolished in the middle of the night, as the previous church on the same spot was demolished by the Bolsheviks in 1936.
And Poroshenko indicates that the church inspections are aimed at breaking contracts for usage with the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which the Council intentionally mischaracterizes as a “religious organization run by the aggressor country Russia,” reports Foma in Ukraine.
According to decision No. 379/8345, the proper status of contracts will be checked. If the contract period is over, it will not be extended, and the community will be forced to leave the church.
However, “If the term of the agreement isn’t over yet, we’ll have every reason to terminate this agreement ahead of schedule,” Poroshenko added.
Inspections must be carried out within three months from the date of publication of the decision, May 17.
According to decision No. 378/8344, “In the absence of properly executed contracts for the use and/or placement or construction of buildings or structures on the territory without proper permits, the territory will be considered illegally occupied or built up. The community will be forced to leave the territory, and ‘illegally placed’ buildings will be subject to demolition.”
The official list currently includes 73 churches, but will be supplemented.
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