Ternopil Region Prosecutor's Office seeks to return the UOC church to state ownership through the court

The Prosecutor’s Office of Ternopil region filed a lawsuit with the Economic Court demanding the return of the monument of architecture of national importance — the Holy Protection Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Stary Pochayiv in Kremenets district — to the state. This demand is related to «the discovery of illegal transfer of the temple into private ownership of a religious organization of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church».

The press service of the Ternopil region prosecutor’s office informed about the beginning of court proceedings in this case. Prosecutors of the Kremenets district Prosecutor’s office found that «in 2018 the state registrar of one of the village councils of Kremenets district illegally made changes to the register, as a result of which the religious organization of the Ternopil diocese of the UOC received the right of private ownership of the complex of buildings and the temple itself, which by law should belong to the state». The prosecutor’s office insists on canceling this decision and ensuring that the state can freely dispose of its property.

The Church of the Intercession, built in 1643, is an outstanding example of wooden architecture. This unique construction on a stone foundation, erected without the use of iron nails, is recognized as a work of the Volyn school masters and has the status of an architectural monument of national importance.

We shall remind you that earlier Ternopil Regional Prosecutor’s Office initiated an investigation with the purpose of expropriation in favor of the state of a land plot of 12 hectares on which the monastery complex of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church — the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra — is located. In the opinion of the prosecutor’s office, the transfer of the land to the monastery was carried out in violation of the law, in connection with which the agency is preparing a lawsuit.