The media have calculated the real estate of Koretsky monastery, which the state plans to take away from the monastery

The mass media have established the total amount of real estate owned by Koretskyi Holy Trinity Stavropigial Nunnery of the Russian Orthodox Church, located in Rivne region. Journalists expect that all the property of the monastery will be expropriated by the state after the Holy Trinity Monastery loses its legal registration.

According to information provided by the Rivne regional state administration, the monastery uses a land plot of 4.2445 hectares owned by Koretska city territorial community, Suspilne reports. In addition, the religious organization uses five religious buildings that are part of the Trinity Monastery complex of the XVI-XIX centuries: the Warm Church of John the Baptist, the main building of cells, the Holy Trinity Church and the bell tower. on March 26, 2024 the government entered this complex into the state register of immovable monuments of Ukraine, but the balance holder of the buildings has not yet been determined.

According to Lyudmyla Filipovych, head of the department of philosophy and history of religion at the Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the monastery’s affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church has been known for more than 30 years. “Just to close the monastery, most likely, will not work,” she said in a comment to the publication. The expert explained that the state will not resort to forcible eviction of the nuns, but can remove the religious organization from registration. This will deprive it of its legal status, the ability to rent premises and benefits for public utilities. However, the monastery will be able to continue to function on donations.

Senior researcher of the Department of Religious Studies of the Institute of Philosophy Oksana Horkusha also confirmed that the examination only recorded a long-known fact. She noted that the state does not want to take on repressive functions in order not to give the ROC an excuse to “shout to the whole world about persecution of the church.” “It is this argument that the ROC uses to shout to the whole world that there are ‘persecutions’ here,” Gorkusha emphasized.

Koretsk city council said that they are studying the issue related to the conclusions of the DESS. At the same time, the Rivne diocese of the OCU supported the conclusion of the civil service. Journalists were unable to contact representatives of the monastery itself, as the phone numbers listed in public sources were invalid. The editorial staff sent an official request to the DESS to find out what concrete steps are planned to be taken to stop the activity of Koretskyi monastery.

Earlier it became known that the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal rejected the application of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethno-politics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) to secure the claim in the case of termination of the activities of Koretsky Holy Trinity Women’s Stavropegial Monastery of the Moscow Patriarchate. This decision does not terminate the lawsuit itself, but refuses to take interim measures for the period of consideration of the case