Ternopil prosecutors demand return of Pochaiv Lavra to state
Ternopil Regional Prosecutor's Office has filed a lawsuit to terminate early an 50-year agreement on use of UOC's Pochaiv Lavra buildings.
The Ternopil Regional Prosecutor's Office has filed a lawsuit with the court seeking to terminate the agreement on gratuitous use and to seize the complex of buildings of the Holy Dormition Pochaiv Lavra in favor of the state. The lawsuit was submitted to the Commercial Court on November 2, 2026, and the court has already opened proceedings in the case.
The defendant in the case is the Pochaiv Holy Dormition Lavra of the UOC, and the third party on the plaintiff's side is the Kremenets-Pochaiv State Historical and Architectural Reserve. The prosecutors cited "gross violations" of the terms of use and of protection legislation as grounds for early annulment of the 50-year agreement of December 12, 2003.
The office claimed that inspections recorded the reconstruction of monastic cells and the bishop's residence, with the demolition of interior walls and the cutting of new passages, as well as repair work on the facades and the application of new paintings without approval from the Ministry of Culture. On this basis, the prosecutors demanded that the work be stopped and the Lavra's property be transferred to the state.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that the Pochaiv Lavra refuted media lies about the brethren and the holy sites of the monastery.
