“It will be like in Romanian": Chernivtsi City Council defends itself to Romanian consul over transfer of ‘Romanian’ UOC church to OCU

The international scandal that erupted in Chernivtsi over the transfer of the Three Saints’ Tomb Church of the Bukovinian Metropolitans from the Romanian-speaking parish of the UOC to the OCU is gaining momentum. This time, the city authorities of Chernivtsi had to justify themselves to the Romanian Consul General, as the Romanian government became interested in this conflict. The Chernivtsi City Council promised that representatives of the OCU would hold religious events in the said church also in Romanian. This was reported on the official Facebook page of the Chernivtsi City Council.

“On September 13, Chernivtsi Mayor Roman Klichuk met with the Consul General of Romania in Chernivtsi, Irina Loredana Stenculescu. During the meeting, they discussed issues of inter-municipal partnerships, cross-border cooperation, as well as the chapel-tomb located on the territory of the Zapovednik industrial park in block 17, where until recently the Moscow church had been holding services. This chapel is an important architectural monument of local significance and is on the balance sheet of the Zapovednik Municipal Company. According to the decision of the Economic Court of the Chernivtsi Region of 13.06.2024 (No. 926/4103/23), the religious organization “Religious Community of the Parish of the Church of the Tomb in Honor of the Three Saints of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese of the UOC” had to transfer the tomb of the Bukovyna Metropolitans to the balance sheet of the Reserve,” — the statement reads.