Kremenets, Ternopil Province, Ukraine, May 8, 2026
Photo: inok.info
A Ukrainian court has ruled against an Orthodox monastery, ordering that it surrender its buildings to the state.
The Western Commercial Court of Appeal has ruled that the Holy Theophany Convent of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church must give a complex of 18th-century buildings over to state control, according to an announcement by the Kremenets-Pochaev State Historical and Architectural Preserve, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
The court decision orders the transfer of the historic structures from the Ternopil Diocese convent to the operational management of the state preserve. The ruling affects a complex of architectural monuments including the Theophany Cathedral and a cell building dating to 1760, as well as a 20th-century bell tower. The total area of the premises covers 3,218 square meters.
The convent had been using the complex of monastery buildings for 32 years. It last signed a five-year lease with the state in 2018. Abbess Demetria sent an official request for extension of the contract but received no response
The legal proceedings in case No. 921/619/23 lasted nearly three years and involved more than 40 court sessions. The monastery’s free-use agreement expired in September 2023, after which the reserve, with support from the Ministry of Culture, initiated a lawsuit to evict the monastic community.
State officials thanked the legal department of the Ministry of Culture for coordinating the case and “defending state interests.”
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The Holy Theophany Monastery in Kremenets was founded as a male monastery in the first half of the 17th century. In 1725, it was taken over by Uniate Greek Catholics and did not return to Orthodoxy until 1839. In 1953, the monastery was transformed into a convent, and by 1959, there were 67 sisters living there. On July 29-30, 1959, the monastery was closed and the church was used as a gym, while the monastic residential building housed a hospital.
The rebirth of the monastery began on August 26, 1990, when the Sorrowing Icon of the Mother of God, kept in the monastery before the revolution and moved to the Pochaev Lavra after its closing, was carried in procession back to its former place. Nuns returned to the monastery in 1991.
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