Ternopil authorities outline a plan to evict UOC from Pochaiv Lavra

The working group at the Ternopil Regional Council is looking for an opportunity to expel the UOC from the Pochaiv Lavra. Photo: suspilne.media

The working group within the Ternopil Regional Council, created "to study the legal use of the Pochaiv Lavra by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”, initiated five appeals to the central and local authorities in order to prematurely terminate the agreement with the UOC on the lease of the monastery buildings. It is reported by suspilne.media.

In particular, the group reached out to the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy with a proposal to create an interdepartmental commission to check the Church's compliance with the lease agreement.

“We are asking for the creation of a group similar to the one that worked in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in order to systematically approach the issue of compliance with the lease agreement at the level of central law enforcement and state bodies,” said Oleh Syrotiuk, head of the Ternopil working group, deputy of the regional council.

According to him, the working group also plans to appeal to the State Inspectorate for Architecture and Urban Planning "about compliance with security and cultural legislation, about the legality of the construction of new structures and how this affected the historical buildings of the Pochaiv Lavra."

In addition, members of the group intend to request the regional military administration to initiate the transfer of land on the territory of the Pochaiv Lavra to state ownership. Today the land belongs to the territorial community.

Also, at the initiative of the working group, appeals to the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers will be submitted to the session of the regional council on March 22 with a call to adopt a bill to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The group includes representatives of the regional council, the regional state administration, the regional property administration, the Kremenets-Pochaiv State Historical and Architectural Reserve, the self-government bodies of Pochaiv and Kremenets, as well as the police and the prosecutor's office.

As reported by the UOJ, on the basis of the "conclusions" of the interdepartmental commission, which verified compliance with the terms of the agreement on the use of the buildings of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the authorities demand the eviction of the UOC from the monastery by March 29. According to the Chairman of the Information and Education Department of the UOC, Metropolitan Clement, no one has seen this commission in the Lavra, while the Ministry of Culture has classified its conclusion.

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