The religious community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church defends the right to use the Nicholas Cathedral in the city of Kremenets, Ternopil region. The Ternopil diocese asks the faithful to pray that the ancient church will always remain an Orthodox shrine, Pravlife writes.
Nicholas Cathedral with cells of the XVI-XVII centuries. since 1832 it has been an active Orthodox church, an architectural monument of national importance, which is maintained by the forces and means of believers. In 1919, it was nationalized by the godless authorities, and with the acquisition of Independence and the adoption in 1991 of the Law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations”, it was subject to return to free use or to the property of the religious community. However, no real actions were taken by representatives of state institutions to return church property.
The premises of the St. Nicholas Cathedral are in constant open use by the Orthodox community, the successor of which is the Parish of St. Nicholas, registered in the prescribed manner on September 24, 1991. Ten years later, in 2001, the Kremenets-Pochaev State Historical and Architectural Reserve was created, which was assigned the nationalized church property on the basis of operational management. In 2018, between the Reserve and the Parish of St. Nicholas, an agreement was concluded for the use of state-owned property.
Currently, the administration of the Reserve, ignoring a number of existing regulations and international obligations of the state for the restitution of church property, single-handedly, without the consent of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, began the procedure for the return of St. Nicholas Cathedral. The parish is not given the opportunity to extend the contract, and the end of its validity is considered by the Reserve to be a sufficient legal basis for the termination of the pre-emptive right to use the temple, which arose from the religious community with its construction two hundred years ago.
On February 8, 2023, in accordance with the powers defined by law, the Parish of St. Nicholas appealed to the owner – the state represented by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy in order to resolve the issue of further use of the temple. The next day, the director of the Reserve, V. Mikulich, issued an order “On the establishment of a commission for the return of property”, and on February 13, despite the Parish’s reports about the appeal against the creation of the commission and the absence of a decision by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy regarding the further use of the property, the administration of the Reserve held a meeting of the commission on reception and transfer of the Nicholas Cathedral. The rector of the temple, Archpriest Vasily Voznyuk, refused to sign any documents.
The Ternopil diocese believes that the administration of the Reserve “openly violates the pre-emptive right to use the cathedral” by the Parish of St. Nicholas and recalls that “exclusively the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, in accordance with the tasks assigned to it, performs the functions of managing state property related to the sphere of its management”.
“Until the issue is resolved by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, we ask everyone who may be concerned not to take any measures to use the architectural monument of national importance – St. Nicholas Cathedral in the city of Kremenets,” calls the Ternopil diocese.
The diocese asks all faithful children of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to pray that the Nikolaev Cathedral, both now and forever, be an Orthodox shrine and prayers for the salvation of the people of God and peace in Ukraine are unrestrictedly lifted up in it.
