Volyn Regional Council deputy promises to take away all churches from UOC in Volodymyr-Volynskyi

A deputy of the Volyn Regional Council, Andriy Bokoch, said that after the Holy Dormition Cathedral of the Volodymyr-Volyn Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is finally taken away from the Church, the regional authorities will deal with the last UOC church to remain in the city. He said this in a comment to the publication Rayon.in.ua.

“I know all the legal options for the development of events. We are a very liberal, democratic state. We have very liberal legislation. Today is the tenth day. Accordingly, the documents should have been sent to the Volyn Regional State Administration today. According to VRSA’s lawyer, who dealt with all these issues, we are giving them another 5-6 days. After that, everything is in the hands of our esteemed head of the Volyn Regional State Administration, Ivan Rudnytsky. He can apply to the executive service, which has to implement this court order. Then we will see whether the executive service will delay this issue. We want one thing, both I and MP Ihor Huz, to avoid bloodshed and to avoid people coming to liberate our Ukrainian shrine on their own. We do not want this. We want the law enforcement agencies, together with the Volyn Regional State Administration, to resolve this issue,” — Bokoch said about the Holy Dormition Cathedral of the Volodymyr-Volyn Diocese of the UOC.

In addition, the deputy added that after the process of expropriation of the Assumption Cathedral is completed, the regional authorities will do everything necessary to take away the last church of the UOC in the city of Volodymyr-Volynskyi. According to open sources, it is St. Nicholas Church of the UOC, which is also an architectural monument.

“Volodymyr is a fairly calm patriarchal city. The citizens do not want riots. But, if we take into account the conversations or conduct a conditional poll, there will be about 90/10 in favor of the Holy Dormition Cathedral being transferred to the Ukrainian state. The state of Ukraine will decide who should perform services there, etc. That is, people are ready for the Holy Dormition Cathedral to be transferred to the state. This is the first thing. And the second is that the residents of Volodymyr will have only one Moscow church, which we will also work on later so that it also goes to the Ukrainian side,” — he added.

As reported by the media, the Volodymyr-Volyn Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will leave the state-expropriated complex of premises of the Holy Dormition Cathedral in Volodymyr-Volynskyi, which also houses the diocesan administration and theological school, on April 1, 2025.