Lviv City Council transfers premises of St. George complex to UGCC

St. George's Cathedral complex in Lviv. Photo: ugcc.lviv.ua

On September 4, 2020, deputies of the Lviv City Council decided to approve a land management project on the transfer of land embracing the territory of St. George's Mountain in Lviv to the permanent use of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church "for maintaining the complex of St. George's Cathedral and lower metropolitan gardens." This was reported by the press service of the Lviv Archdiocese of the UGCC.

"This decision is a step in the restoration of the St. George's shrine, including due to the planned arrangement of a park-recreational zone on the territory of the lower Metropolitan Gardens," the UGCC said.

The head of the Lviv Uniates Igor Kyr stressed that the decision of the Lviv City Council "to return to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church the territory of the Arch-Cathedral and the Metropolitan Gardens on Mount St. George" is a "historic milestone".

"The St. George's complex, which is now under the protection of UNESCO, is not only an architectural monument of world importance but a great stronghold of faith. By taking this shrine from the Ukrainian people, the Soviets tried to show the destruction and oppression of our Church. But through the revival of the independence of our Motherland, St. George's Cathedral returns to the disposal of the people to be a source of God's grace," said the Uniate hierarch and thanked Lviv deputies for "courageous restoration of historical justice", which will usher in a new stage of Lviv's development.

St. George's Cathedral in Lviv (at 5 St. George's Square), built on the site of an ancient Orthodox church, is considered the main shrine of Ukrainian Greek Catholics. The tombs of Andrei Sheptytsky and Sylvester Sembratovich are located in the crypt of the cathedral, while in 1992 the remains of Joseph Slipy were reburied here.

As the UOJ reported, earlier the hierarch of the UGCC in Ivano-Frankivsk demanded to give a courthouse to the church.

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