A case against UOC community initiated in Ivano-Frankivsk

The UOC Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ in Ivano-Frankivsk. Photo: franyk.com

On March 8, 2023, the court ordered to initiate a criminal case against the UOC community of the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ in Ivano-Frankivsk for the "embezzlement" of property that allegedly belongs to the OCU. The mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ruslan Martsynkiv, made a statement about this on Facebook.

According to him, "the community at one time decided to completely transfer from the Moscow Patriarchate to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. We legally registered the ownership of the entire building and the land in Dovzhenko Street. Now there is a court dispute so that the community of the OCU could fully exercise its right to serve exactly in Dovzhenko Street".

At the same time, the press service of the Ivano-Frankivsk Eparchy told the UOJ that the UOC owns the land and the temple. The cathedral community will defend its rights for services in the temple and file relevant lawsuits in the nearest future.

Back in April 2022, Ruslan Martsynkiv, the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, said that the community of the Nativity Cathedral allegedly "voluntarily" supported the change of jurisdiction from the UOC to the OCU.

The clerics and parishioners of the temple immediately denied this information, calling it a fake. At the same time, the UOC community sent a corresponding letter to the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with a request to protect the temple from seizure. The believers also appealed to the police and the SBU.

Meanwhile, in June, Martsynkiv urged city residents to physically help the community of the Nativity Cathedral to convert to the OCU, while his advisor Myron Dmytriak promised a monetary reward for the list of parishioners who had voted for faithfulness to the UOC.

Already in July 2022, several people who introduced themselves as "parishioners of the UOC" tried to enter the temple. The real parishioners identified among the impostors Oleksandra Hrushetska, Martsynkiv's assistant, who is a member of the leadership of the UOC Trinity Community of the UGCC.

As reported, the Ivano-Frankivsk cathedral community reaffirmed its faithfulness to the UOC.

Read also

Metropolitan Theodosiy: We must defend our churches and show that we exist

The UOC hierarch is confident that the time will come when the country returns to the rule of law, and those now persecuting the Church will be held accountable.