Court hearings of Konstantinovka UOC church case open in Kiev

On 25 October, 2016, the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine in Kiev held the first hearing of the case on invalidating the changes made to the minutes of the parish meeting of the Sretensky (Purification) church of Konstantinovka by representatives of the "Kiev Patriarchate" regarding the change of the head of the parish council. This is reported on the website of the UOC diocese of Gorlovka.

It is the last instance which can consider the appeal of representatives of the "Kiev Patriarchate".

There are two cases opened concerning Sretensky church. The first case is on the issue of illegality of the changes to the minutes of the parish meeting of the church. On 16 May, 2016, the Economic court of the Donetsk region in Kharkov ruled that the minutes of the meeting of the parish council of the Sretensky church of April 2015 were not valid due to the illegality of any changes made to them. On 19 July 2016, the Donetsk Court of Appeal in Kharkov decided to reject the appeal of the representatives of the "Kiev Patriarchate" and leave in force the decision of the Economic Court.

The second case was initiated on the issue of religious affiliation of the Sretensky church.

Both cases were won by representatives of the diocese of Gorlovka. The advocates of the "Kiev Patriarchate" filed an appeal on every case in the Supreme Economic Court in Kiev.

On 25 October, the parties submitted to the court theirs explanations concerning the dispute. The next court hearing is scheduled for 8 November, 2016.