An ancient church in Transcarpathia is in danger

An architectural landmark of the 17^th century is threatened in Transcarpathia – the Holy Assumption church in Novoselitsa village of Vinogradovskiy district, Transarpathian region. A village chairman took an arbitrary decision to transfer the museum complex to be used by the small Greek-Catholic village community. It was reported by the shooting team of the Union of Orthodox Journalists.   

A unique wooden church of the17^th century with the original mural painting, built without a single nail, has been an active museum and a key tourist attraction in Novoselitsa village for nearly 50 years. Despite this, the village chairman made an arbitrary decision to transfer the museum complex for the disposal by the tiny Greek-Catholic congregation of the village, which includes in fact as many as 7 persons. The church transfer poses a risk of destroying the museum complex, since it’ll lead to violation of safeguards, directed at preservation of the old architectural monument.  

“The representatives of the Greek-Catholic community entered the church for the first time on May 1, at Easter, carrying burning candles, that breaks basic fire prevention regulations. On May 15 they conducted their second divine service, on top of that there came about 30 vans with people from neighbor villages of the district and region, introducing themselves as a Greek-Catholic community. They fully occupied the museum complex area, waving a piece of paper, which had been allegedly issued to them in Kiev”, recounted the villagers who are ultimately outraged by the situation at hand.   

As the UOJ shooting team managed to find out, the museum complex in question is administered by the village council, and all decisions on its transfer on any user or rent rights have to be approved via deputy voting. The village head, giving no explanations, handed in to the museum director the documents which specify that on February 26 the fifth session of the village council deputies approved a resolution to grant the right to the Greek-Catholic community of Novoselitsa village to have worship services inside the church and on its territory on Sundays and holidays provided they have a protection agreement. The deputies, in their turn, claim they did not make any decision of that kind; the point was the Greek-Catholic congregation being able to conduct worships on the territory adjacent to the museum but not inside the church.        

According to the village head, the deputies tell a lie because it was namely they who adopted this decision and now they’re trying to avoid public outrage. Substantiating his version, he showed both the decision of the village council and the agreement between the village head and a representative of the Greek-Catholic congregation, as well as a certain document from Kiev – a protection agreement, signed by First Deputy Minister Igor Likhov.   

Answering a question of the UOJ correspondent, who bears a material responsibility for the preservation of the architectural landmark, the chairman replied it is a priest, which is specified in the respective paragraph in the agreement. The agreement also contains fire prevention regulations which were obviously violated by the congregation during the Easter service. Is the village priest really able to repair damages which might have been caused by burning candles? The chairman failed to answer this question, saying the deal is made and he no longer bothers about it.

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