Supreme Court rejects OCU claim to evict priests’ families in Rivne region

Members of the UOC community in Polesskoye village. Photo: UOJ

The rectors of the two seized churches in the Rivne region will remain to live with their families in church houses following the decision by the Supreme Court of Ukraine, the UOJ correspondent reports.

Within a month, the Supreme Court of Ukraine considered two cases at once, which relate to the eviction of families of priests: Archpriest Igor Gnatishin, head of the UOC community in the village of Novaya Moschanitsa, Zdolbuniv district, and Archpriest Stepan Korolchuk, head of the UOC community in the village of Polesskoye, Bereznovo district.

In both cases, lawsuits were filed by representatives of the OCU, who had forcibly seized the churches of the UOC in these villages. They were not satisfied after the seizure of churches and tried to evict families of priests, who had been involve in religious communities for more than twenty years, from their lodgings.

“The hearings on these cases were held in various judicial instances of the country and lasted for more than one year,” comments Raisa Prikhodko, human rights activist of the Rivne and Sarny dioceses of the UOC. “I think these claims are cynical in terms of attitudes towards a person and anti-Christian, because they were filed by representatives of the OCU religious community, who must confess and live according to the laws of Christ.”

The Supreme Court of Ukraine dismissed the claims from the OCU community in the village of Novaya Moschanitsa and from the OCU community in the Polesskoye village. The decision states that attempts to deprive families of housing are inappropriate and so that they do not meet the norms and principles established by the European Court.

The decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine also states that it is final and not subject to appeal.

As reported by the UOJ, the residents of Polesskoye filled the foundation of a new temple instead of the one taken over by the OCU. The believers of the UOC in Novaya Moschanitsa, who were also deprived of their church, ask for donations to provide facilities for a newly built one.

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