Abbess Serafima appeals to premier over eviction of nuns in Baturyn

Yulia Svyrydenko. Photo: RBC-Ukraine

Abbess Serafima, head of the Synodal Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church “Church and Culture” and abbess of the Odesa Holy Archangel Michael Women’s Monastery, has sent an open letter to Ukraine’s Prime Minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, asking her to intervene in the situation surrounding the eviction of the nuns of the Holy St Nicholas Krupytsky Monastery.

The abbess stressed that the nuns were expelled from premises that they themselves restored from ruins more than thirty years ago. “They were thrown out of the buildings they revived in the early 1990s from a state of terrible devastation, as documented by records and photographs,” the letter states.

The author of the letter expresses particular indignation at the manner in which the eviction was carried out. “Officials were assisted by an entire detachment of well-dressed, warmly clothed, and armed security officers, whose hearts did not tremble as they evicted defenseless women into the bitter cold,” Abbess Serafima notes. “This is being done in Europe, with its centuries-old humanitarian traditions of humane treatment of citizens’ problems and needs! This is being done under the leadership of the Ministry of Culture!” the abbess exclaims in her appeal.

Abbess Serafima also points to legal violations in the eviction process. Representatives of the reserve refer to the expiration of the lease term for the premises; however, according to the author of the letter, their actions contradict Ukrainian legislation. “Ukrainian law prohibits, during martial law, the eviction of people onto the street. The law also forbids throwing people out of premises in which they are officially registered without providing them with alternative housing,” the open letter states.

“I ask you, respected Prime Minister of Ukraine, to intervene in this matter and to restore to the nuns the opportunity to spend the winter in their monastic buildings until a lawful court judgment is rendered regarding their fate. You are a woman. I hope that for you the despair and grief of these unfortunate women are not an empty sound,” the abbess concludes her appeal.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that in Baturyn, the authorities forced the nuns of the St Nicholas Monastery out onto the street.

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