Zaporizhzhia City Council reports on its fight against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

The Zaporizhzhia City Council reported to deputies and city media on measures being taken by the city council to combat the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. To this end, the city council held an event entitled “Meeting on measures to stop the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) associated with the Moscow Patriarchate in the city.” This was reported by the Zaporizhzhia Investigation Center.

According to officials, over the past two years, they have returned three properties through the courts that were previously used by UOC communities as temples and house churches. These are the premises at 61 Pavlokichka Street, two churches dedicated to the Presentation of the Lord near the Pervomaisky Cemetery, and a church dedicated to Boris and Gleb in Zaporizhzhia-Livyi. Currently, there is a court case pending on the eviction of another community from a chapel near the remains of the Zaporizhzhia Oak.

According to Maxim Khitrik, deputy director of the Asset Management Department, the city authorities are currently acting within the law. Officials are studying the experience of other regions and cities and are not rushing to take any measures other than the usual lawsuits, fearing social conflicts in the frontline city.

We will remind you that recently, Vitaliy Ostanniy, director of the Department of Public Relations and Information Activities of the Kirovograd Regional State Administration, spoke about the number of religious communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that the state managed to re-register in the OCU, and about the interfaith map of the region as a whole. According to the official, there are twice as many UOC communities in the region as there are OCU communities, and the percentage of “transfers” from the UOC to the OCU is one of the lowest in the country.