Chervone Convent building of UOC “returned” to state in Zhytomyr region

The Economic Court of the Zhytomyr Region has granted the lawsuit filed by the Berdychiv District Prosecutor's Office regarding the transfer into state ownership of a building in the village of Chervone, where the Ukrainian Orthodox Church's Convent of the Nativity of Christ is located, reports the press service of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy.

The convent is situated in an estate that belonged to the Tereshchenko family, prominent entrepreneurs and benefactors, before 1917. The building has local heritage status.

"The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine joined the case in 2023 and defended the preservation of this heritage," officials reported. "Thus, we have another successful collaboration between the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy and the Prosecutor's Office in protecting and returning property to state ownership. Another building of the UOC monastery has been returned to state ownership."

According to the Zhytomyr Eparchial Administration of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in 2000, the JSC "Chervonsky Tsukrovik" gave the estate, formerly owned by the sugar factory owner Tereshchenko, into the ownership of the eparchy. The building was accepted onto the balance sheet of the Zhytomyr Eparchy in a half-destroyed state, without windows and doors.

From October 2000, the building housed the hermitage of the Zhytomyr Convent of St. Anastasia of Rome. In early 2001, the home church was consecrated, and regular services began to be held there. On January 22, 2001, the Holy Synod of the UOC blessed the opening of the Nativity of Christ Convent of Chervone. During the period of the convent's existence, the nuns and parishioners renovated part of the estate's buildings.

As earlier reported, the police were attempting to evict nuns from the Kremenets Theophany Convent of the UOC in the Ternopil region.