The Council of Romanians of Ukraine urged Bucharest to intervene in the situation with the seized UOC church in Chernivtsi

The National Council of Romanians of Ukraine, which consists of more than 20 Romanian-speaking NGOs, sent an appeal to the Romanian government and the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church to respond to the situation around the Three Holy Saints’ Church, the burial place of the Bukovinian metropolitans of the Romanian-speaking parish of the UOC of Chernivtsi, which was sealed by the city authorities and transferred to the ownership of the OCU. The appeal states that the church, which the community restored at its own expense, was simply stolen by local authorities in favor of an unrecognized religious structure. This is reported by Hotnews.ro.

“We are deeply saddened to inform you that by the decision of the Chernivtsi City Hall, the chapel of the Bukovinian hierarchs dedicated to the Holy Three Hierarchs in Chernivtsi, the place where we have been praying in Romanian for almost 30 years, was taken away from us. The last Liturgy was celebrated outside the church by Father Christopher Gabor on Sunday, August 25, 2024. This is the first Romanian church to serve in the Romanian language, which was unjustly taken away by the authorities,” – the statement reads.

Romanians in Ukraine stated that they had long suffered discrimination by the Ukrainian authorities on the basis of language, and now religious persecution has been added to this. They called for the process of joining the Orthodox Bukovinians to the Romanian Patriarchate to be launched as soon as possible, as they fear that the process of expropriation of church property will gain momentum.

“After 30 years of harsh attacks on Romanian-language schools, after waving the ‘Moldovan language’ around, after marginalizing us in terms of representation in government, etc., now the authorities are coming to take away our churches, to tell us when, to whom, and how we should pray. We have every reason to consider the actions of the Ukrainian authorities to deprive the Romanian community of this place of worship as part of a new offensive against the Romanian minority in Ukraine, in violation of current national legislation, bilateral interstate agreements, as well as European and international human rights laws. In these circumstances, we respectfully request that you, as high representatives of the neighboring state of Romania, take a stand against the theft of the Metropolitan Chapel by the Ukrainian authorities, a dishonorable act that contradicts the spirit and letter of the Basic Treaty between Ukraine and Romania and other bilateral and multilateral legal instruments to which Ukraine is a party. At the same time, we call for the process of bringing Romanian Orthodox communities in Ukraine under the omophorion of the Romanian Orthodox Church,” – the Council of Romanians of Ukraine added.

As reported, on August 27, 2024, the City Council of Chernivtsi decided to transfer the Three Saints’ Church-Tomb of the Bukovinian Metropolitans from the Romanian-speaking parish of the UOC to the OCU. The city council made this decision “to free it from the destructive influence of Russia.”