"Since 2008 they did not notice, but here they noticed": the SSU has taken up the "illegal" construction of the monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Carpathian region

The Security Service of Ukraine in the Lviv region has begun «illegal» construction of the Cyril and Methodius Monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Radychi, Sambir district. According to the agency’s investigators, the UOC monastery, whose construction began in 2008, is illegal. This was reported by the publication zaxid.net.

According to the case file, the SBU has been investigating illegal construction in the village of Radych at 11a Roztoka Street since January 2023. The land belongs to residential and public buildings and agriculture, but has no cadastral numbers. The leader and one of the founders of the religious community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Radych is Volodymyr Markovych. According to the YouControl analytical system, the religious community has been registered in Radych since September 1991. In turn, law enforcement officials believe that the head of the religious community illegally built a church and a number of outbuildings on communal land. To do this, he asked for money from investors and parishioners. At the request of investigators, the Turka City Council reported that they did not make decisions on land development and did not grant permits to start construction work.

According to the rector of the community, Archpriest Yaroslav Yavorsky, all the necessary construction permits were obtained. In this regard, he does not understand what claims can be made against him.

«I met with almost every deputy (of the village council — ed.) and convinced them that I was not building a bar or a brothel, but a monastery where our souls would be purified. Several deputies said they would vote against it because Orthodoxy is associated with Moscow. The session allowed the construction of a monastery in the village of Radych at 11a Roztoka Street, near the church-chapel of St. Michael the Archangel,» — Yaroslav Yavorsky wrote in 2018.

As a result of investigative actions, the case of the UOC religious community in the village of Radych is classified under the article on unauthorized construction on an unauthorized land plot. The sanction provides for a fine or imprisonment for up to three years.

Earlier, we reported that another batch of fakes was spread in the Ukrainian media about the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in order to incite hatred in society. This time, the news that the UOC is allegedly illegally building a «Moscow Kremlin» near Kyiv was widely circulated. The information was posted on the Internet following an appeal to the Security Service of Ukraine by Ukrainian MPs. As a result, it turned out that it was not the UOC, but the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (Vitaly Ustinov) that was engaged in the construction.