Four lawsuits against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are pending in the courts of the Ternopil region

Currently, four lawsuits involving religious organizations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) are actively being heard in the courts of Ternopil and Kyiv. According to “Ukrinform,” citing a statement by Vitaliy Panchenko, head of the Ternopil Regional Prosecutor’s Office, these proceedings are aimed at returning religious property and land plots to state ownership.

The legal disputes center on properties administered by the Pochaiv Lavra. In particular, the prosecutor’s office is challenging the UOC community’s right to use a plot of land spanning more than 12 hectares, where the monastery complex is located. In addition, proceedings are underway to return to the state the buildings of the Pochaiv Holy Spirit Hermitage, built in the 18th century.

Separate lawsuits concern challenges to ownership rights over architectural monuments of national significance. These include the Church of All Saints in Pochaiv and the Church of the Intercession in the village of Staryi Pochaiv. In these cases, the agencies are demanding that the decisions of state registrars to transfer these properties to religious communities be revoked. Earlier, it was also reported that the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience had granted the Pochaiv Lavra an additional 60 days to complete the procedures related to severing ties with the Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.