Gorlovka Eparchy of UOC wins the court of appeal against OCU

The building of the Donetsk Court of Appeal in Bakhmut. Photo: screenshot wikimapia.org

On February 12, 2020, the Donetsk Court of Appeal in Bakhmut declared unlawful the "transfer" of the Sretensky (Meeting of the Lord) temple of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) of Konstantinovka city to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). This was reported on the website of the Gorlovka and Slaviansk Eparchy.

The schismatics may appeal this court decision in the Kiev Supreme Court of Appeal.

On October 14, 2015, members of the then Kiev Patriarchate (UOC-KP) seized the Sretensky temple by force. The diocese started a legal action.

The litigation in the case of the jurisdictional affiliation of the temple lasted several years. In order to challenge the decisions of the courts, which recognized the seizure as illegal, the UOC-KP even appealed to the Supreme Court of Ukraine. This court rejected the cassation appeal of the Kiev Patriarchate.

On October 28, 2019, the Konstantinovka City District Court also declared unlawful the decision of July 10, 2015 of the “parish assembly” to change the denomination. The defendant was the "Religious Orthodox organization ‘Holy Sretensky Parish of the Donetsk Diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in Konstantinovka city, Donetsk Region’”, the appeal of this church structure was signed by Yuri Shapran.

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