Cherkasy Eparchy: City Council has no authority to seize church land

Land can only be taken from the Church by court order. Photo: open sources

The Cherkasy Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has issued an official statement refuting information that the Church was stripped of its rights to use land plots in the city. The legal department of the diocese called the reports that the Cherkasy City Council allegedly “terminated the rights of permanent use” of the land under three UOC churches disinformation.

According to the statement, the Cherkasy City Council, like any other city council in Ukraine, does not have the legal authority to unilaterally terminate land use rights. Under Ukrainian law, land plots can only be withdrawn with the notarized consent of the land users or through a court decision if there is no such consent.

"The Cherkasy Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has not given and will not give consent to the illegal withdrawal of land plots beneath these church complexes," the statement reads.

The diocese constructed three church complexes on the specified plots: the Church of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called (30 Heroiv Dnipra St.), the Church of the Nativity of Christ (39/1 Sumhaitska St.), and the Church of the Three Holy Hierarchs (18 Vikentia Khvoiky St.). Construction began in 2001 based on a resolution of the Cherkasy City Council’s executive committee, which transferred the plots to the diocese for permanent use.

The legal department of the diocese emphasizes that the current Land Code of Ukraine contains an exhaustive list of grounds for terminating the right of permanent land use, and none of them are applicable in this case.

“Any calls for or attempts at the forcible seizure of these land plots or church facilities citing a ‘decision by the Cherkasy City Council’ will constitute a criminal offense with all the legal consequences for potential instigators, organizers, or perpetrators,” the Cherkasy Eparchy concludes.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the Cherkasy City Council had stripped the UOC of three land plots under its churches.

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