Stefanchuk сalls for Brotherhood Monastery to be transferred to state ownership
Lawmakers have proposed placing the monastery buildings under the direct authority of the Education Ministry to eliminate the split in ownership between the city and the university.
Ukrainian Parliament Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk has proposed transferring the Church of the Holy Spirit and the buildings of the Brotherhood Monastery from municipal to state ownership. Bill No. 15445 provides for the transfer of the monastery complex to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and Science for the needs of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
The bill, signed by 32 members of parliament, covers the monastery refectory, monks’ cells, kitchen, abbot’s residence, and prosphora bakery. The authors of the initiative say the transfer is needed to “ensure the integrity of the complex.” Since 1993, the university has used these buildings in practice, but they have remained legally owned by the Kyiv municipal community.
Under the proposed legislation, the maintenance and restoration of the 17th–20th century architectural monuments would be financed from the state budget as well as through charitable donations.
As previously reported by the UOJ, the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy canceled a lecture by a philosopher over allegations of “homophobia.”