In Kamyanets Supreme Court sides with UOC community in dispute with Reserve
Metropolitan Theodore with the St Nicholas Church community. Photo: FB page of the temple
On 20 December 2023, the Supreme Court of Ukraine cancelled the decision of the Economic Court of Khmelnytsky region of 29 June 2023 to evict the St. Nicholas community of the UOC in Kamyanets-Podilskyi from the St. Nicholas Church and transfer the church to the local Reserve "Kamyanets". The corresponding document was published by the church community on Facebook.
"Thus, from 20 December 2023, the enforcement of the court decision in case No. 924/318/23 is suspended, as well as the effect of the court decision itself in this case," says the court's statement.
In 1990, the religious community of the UOC concluded a perpetual lease agreement for the St. Nicholas Church, which belongs to the Reserve "Kamyanets". But in February 2023, the Director of the Reserve decided to unilaterally terminate the contract. As a reason he called the decision of the National Security Council of 1 December 2022 and the expertise of the State Ethnopolitics Service of the UOC Statute "on church-canonical links with the Moscow Patriarchate".
Also, the director of the Reserve referred to the illegal decision of the City Council of Kamyanets-Podilskyi of 4 April 2023 to terminate the right to use land plots for UOC communities. The rector of the temple refused to leave the shrine. Therefore, the management of the Reserve filed a lawsuit for forced eviction.
As earlier reported, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Economic Court, which gave the church of the UOC in Kamyanets-Podilskyi to the Ministry of Culture.
Read also
Dumenko "blesses" SBU facility for forensic examination
The head of the OCU noted the "special role" of the Institute of Special Technology and Forensic Expertise of the SBU.
ROC head: Attempts to impose special powers of Pat. Bartholomew are sinful
Patriarch Kirill stated that the doctrine of special powers of the Patriarch of Constantinople is being imposed from outside.
Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces LGBT festival near Sodom and Gomorrah
Israeli authorities are promoting a large-scale gay event at the Dead Sea on social media, which has caused criticism and bewilderment among Christians.
In Bila Tserkva, man nearly killed for greeting "Christ is risen!"
Two non-Orthodox individuals aged 19 and 23 tracked down a 35-year-old Orthodox Christian after an Easter greeting, knocked him down and inflicted several knife wounds to his abdomen and neck.
In Uganda, Islamists kill Protestant pastor after sermon
In Uganda, a Protestant church pastor who preached among Muslims was stabbed to death after a sermon.
Spanish court rules Jehovah’s Witnesses may be called a “destructive sect”
A court in Spain has upheld the right of critics of Jehovah’s Witnesses to speak openly about the group’s alleged harmfulness and danger to society.