In Bila Tserkva, there are demands to transfer the St. Nicholas Church of the UOC to the ownership of the OCU

Residents of one of the microdistricts of Bila Tserkva (Kyiv region) are demanding that the St. Nicholas Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church be transferred to the ownership of the OCU. It is reported that no services have been held in the church for the last 10 years, as it is located on the territory of a local preschool educational institution. At the same time, supporters of the OCU claim that the church allegedly belongs to no one, so it should belong to them. This was reported by Espreso. Bila Tserkva.

«The church has been empty for about 10 years. At one time, they said that repairs were needed because of the heated floors. Then the pandemic hit, and outsiders were banned from entering schools and kindergartens. Now we are in a state of martial law. And it turns out that the church is still not open. Residents of the neighborhood constantly ask me when it will start operating, because I also live here and serve the community,»— said OCU representative Dmytro Peresunko.

However, despite the fact that clergymen of the Bila Tserkva Diocese of the UOC conducted services in the church until at least 2013, Yuriy Petryk, head of the Department of Education and Science of the Bila Tserkva City Council, explained that from a legal point of view, the church as a religious building has never officially functioned. He also emphasized that, according to the Constitution of Ukraine and the Law “On Education,” religious buildings cannot operate on the territory of educational institutions. To legalize further activities, it is necessary to allocate a land plot and register it separately from the kindergarten.

«After the reorganization of the orphanage, the premises were transferred to the centralized accounting department as a room for studying the subject of ”Christian Ethics and Morality.» In essence, it is an unfinished building. The Department of Education does not have the right to dispose of community property, so a special commission was created to study the issue of completing the construction, granting the building the appropriate status, and transferring it to the community. To avoid speculation, I emphasize: this building has never been recognized as a church and did not belong to any patriarchate. In addition, on June 24, 2024, the management of the institution sent an official letter to Metropolitan Epiphanius with a request to help with the legal formalities and transfer of the premises to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine,» — the official said.

We will remind you that on March 28, 2025, supporters of the OCU, in the presence of the police and unidentified young men, carried out a raider seizure of two churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the city of Bila Tserkva (Kyiv region). These are the city churches in honor of the Nativity of Christ and St. Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg.