Volyn Regional Council demands to stop renting monastery premises in Miltsi by UOC monastic community

Deputies of the Volyn Regional Council have issued an official demand to prevent the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from extending the lease of religious buildings of the St. Nicholas Monastery in the village of Miltsi, Kovel district. The corresponding appeal was adopted during a session of the regional council on March 31.

According to Volynski Novyny, the appeal was initiated by a deputy of the regional council and lobbyist of the OCU Andriy Bokoch. The document, which concerns the inadmissibility of further use of state property by a religious organization, was sent to the Prime Minister of Ukraine, the head of the Ministry of Culture, the head of the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, as well as the acting head of the Volyn Regional Military Administration.

According to the data voiced during the session, the agreement on the free use of state-owned religious buildings has expired. However, representatives of the UOC monastic community ignore this fact and continue to occupy the premises of the monastery complex.

The text of the appeal emphasizes that “the Moscow church poses a threat to the national security of Ukraine”, acting as “a structure of the Russian church and an agent network of the special services of the aggressor country”. The deputies emphasize that the governing center of the UOC is allegedly located in Russia, which is waging a full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine, which “makes further cooperation with this organization in matters of leasing state property impossible.”

Earlier, we reported that the brethren and parishioners of St. Nicholas Monastery in the village of Miltsi, Volyn region , appealed to U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and Congresswoman Anna Pauline Luna to protect their religious rights from the threat of eviction. The monastery, which has a history of about 700 years, is at risk of being evicted after the lease expires.