Odesa RSA sends defenders of St. Alexander Nevsky Church to court

Occupiers of the St. Alexander Nevsky Church in Odesa. Photo: Odesa Eparchy

The Odesa Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) has received a response from the Odesa Regional State Administration (RSA) to a collective appeal by believers in defense of the St. Alexander Nevsky Church. Archpriest Maximian Pohorelovsky spoke about this in a video message posted on his Facebook page.

According to him, Odesa residents gathered signatures in defense of the church and submitted a collective appeal to the Regional State Administration but received a response stating that the question of the legality of the creation of a new religious community and the transfer of the church to it falls outside the competence of the agency. Officials indicated that the documents had been submitted correctly from a formal standpoint, and suggested that all disputes regarding the legality of the community's registration be resolved through the courts.

Archpriest Maximian Pohorelovsky described this position as an attempt to evade responsibility and compared the situation to the plot of Mikhail Bulgakov's novel about the unauthorized seizure of housing. According to him, today any group of people can register as a church community, while state authorities refuse to verify the legality of such actions. The priest stated that the believers intend to seek the protection of their rights in court and hope for an objective consideration of the case.

As the UOJ previously reported, the OCU had earlier announced its intention to rename the seized Alexander Nevsky Church in Odesa.

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