Ternopol Regional Council demands to grab Pochaev Lavra from UOC

Ternopol Regional Council filed a request to President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to regain the State Conservation Area status for the Pochaev Lavra. According to UNIAN, all 54 deputies, who were present at the regional council session on May 12, cast an affirmative vote for the decision concerned.

Ternopol Regional Council deputies urge to annul a resolution adopted in 2003 “On Exclusion of Buildings of the Pochaev Lavra of Holy Assumption from Kremenets-Pochaev State Architectural Conservation Zone” and transfer the Lavra premises to state ownership with a view to further enabling representatives of other denominations to have their worship services there.     

“We want to take this sanctity back into state ownership and then, by virtue of open tender on the right to use particular cultural buildings, to let other churches, including Greek-Catholic Church, enjoy a possibility to hold their moleben services and worships”, declared Andrey Tsybulskiy, Ternopol Regional Council deputy form UKROP party.  

It is to be reminded the Pochaev Lavra of Holy Assumption is the biggest Orthodox sanctity in Ukraine and ranks second after the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra of Holy Assumption. Since 1997 the Lavra has enjoyed the stavropegia status, i.e. has a direct canonical subordination to the jurisdiction of the UOC Primate. In 2003 the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine conveyed the Pochaev Lavra to free-of-charge use by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, still the Lavra remained a property item of the state.