Court orders Volodymyr-Volyn Diocese of UOC to leave cathedral by end of May

The Economic Court of Volyn Oblast has denied the request of the Volodymyr-Volyn Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to extend the deadline for eviction from the Holy Dormition Cathedral complex, which also houses the diocesan administration and theological school. The Church asked the court to give the eviction time for six months, but the court decided that the Volodymyr-Volyn Diocese of the UOC should leave the premises expropriated in favor of the state by May 29. This was reported by the regional publication Bug.

“We have started accounting: classification of books, accounting of property for liturgies, accounting of shrines, we began to look for how to move the iconostasis, we have started accounting of auxiliary tools (brooms, shovels and other tools),” – said the lawyers of the Vladimir-Volyn Diocese of the UOC, arguing for the extension of the eviction period.

Earlier, Ihor Huz, MP from the For the Future party, threatened the Volodymyr-Volyn Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with a “Cherkasy scenario” if the Church refuses to voluntarily leave the complex of premises of the Holy Dormition Cathedral in Volodymyr-Volynskyi, which also houses the diocesan administration and theological school. Guz believes that the diocese’s attempts to defend its interests in the courts are a “delay,” and that it will not be difficult for it to take the cathedral by force.