In Simferopol, the representatives of the occupational property fund broke in the premise of the Sts. Vladimir and Olga Cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) in broad daylight trying to seal the first floor of the church.
Archbishop Clement front of the goal Ukrainian military camp, March 2014
The Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea Clement told about that to the Golos Kryma information agency.
“They came to the church, when I was not there, and made a scene to the staff who stayed in the church and demanded to call me immediately. They showed the court’s decision, according to which they were allegedly entitled to seize all the cathedral premises. However, at this moment, the court’s decision applies only to the first floor of the church,” Klement said.
The Archbishop also said that he had no doubt after that visit that they would seize the entire building instead of just a premise determined in the ‘court’s’ decision.
“The property fund of Crimea ‘have been fighting’ for this premise and doing everything to chase the church of the Kyivan Patriarchate out for 20 years when the peninsula was under the Ukrainian jurisdiction. All the same people involved in this continue to conduct the same policy today,” the Archbishop summed up and added that in connection with the demolition of the market neighboring the cathedral, church premises could be very attractive to construct, for example, a shopping center.
As a reminder, on June 14, the Sevastopol ‘Court’ of Appeal has decided to order the Crimean Eparchy of the UOC-KP to pay 0.5 million rubles to the ‘Ministry’ of Property and Land Relations of Crimea and leave 112 square meters on the first floor of the Sts. Vladimir and Olga Cathedral in Simferopol.
