Representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church called “precedent-setting” the decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine to recognize as legal the procedure of “transfer” of UOC congregations into their structure. The OCU is convinced that thanks to this decision, they will be able to simplify litigation with the UOC over illegal re-registration of congregations and seizures of churches of the canonical Church. About it reports “5 channel”.

“The overall importance of this decision for the ongoing process of transition of religious communities of Ukraine from the UOC-MP to the OCU since 2019 is difficult to overestimate, because it will become a precedent for all other similar disputes and will give confidence in the legality of such a transition to religious communities that are still hesitant to make a decision to withdraw from the Moscow Patriarchate”, – said the speaker of the OCU Evstratiy Zorya.

The lawyers of the OCU draw attention to the fact that the ruling of the Supreme Court is final, because it is not subject to appeal, and to consider legal disputes on the “exit” of communities from the UOC in the future will be easier, because this decision puts an end to two important issues.

“The transition of a congregation to another church is possible and the second is that such a transition does not depend on the will of the rector. The decision of the Grand Chamber becomes binding for application in similar cases by other courts in Ukraine”, – said the lawyer of the OCU Andriy Savchuk.

We shall remind you that earlier we reported that the Supreme Court of Ukraine recognized the procedure of “transition” of UOC communities to the OCU as legal. The issue was considered on the example of the Holy Protection religious community of the UOC in the village of Kalinovka in Zhytomyr region, where the UOC church was seized by supporters of the OCU in 2019. The seizure took place according to the standard scheme: a territorial community meeting, voting (voting contrary to the provisions of the community’s Charter) and raiding the temple. It was this procedure that the Supreme Court considered legal.