Now I see, now I can’t see: a selective vision of “defenders” of the temple in Kolomyia

The incident with the illegal seizure committed by Greek-Catholics of the UOC Annunciation temple in Kolomyia was supposed to entail a reaction of law enforcement bodies. Public insults of the UOC parishioners, open attacks on the Orthodox senior priest in court, defamation and other components of a typical raider attack on the owners of the real estate they took a liking to, are a worthy start for a couple of criminal proceedings. But no way!

In fact, the law-enforcers started the matter, but they became interested in this opportunity to open a cultural front against the UOC community, which was done well.

Ivano-Frankovsk law enforcement officers raised from naphthalene a long-forgotten article 298 of the Criminal Code, dedicated to the destruction and damage of cultural monuments. Judging by the sluggish activity of law enforcement agencies at the sight of intensive rebuilding of ancient churches by representatives of "patriotic" denominations, it exists in their minds only to unjustifiably spoil nerves of the communities and clergy of the UOC.

A sign of decay

The members of the hurry-scurry commission who are inspecting the temple, sealed for more than a month, found a dozen "gross violations" in the preservation of the monument, and also found in the half-darkness certain "signs of decay" in wooden supports, which are more than 400 years old.

The commission itself, who suddenly became interested in the status of the Orthodox church, favored by Uniates, was created within the framework of the notorious "working group". This group is currently seeking ways to legalize the seizure of the church property. A representative of the Department of Culture of the City Council, as well as, for example, an expert from the Ministry of Culture, is not included in the commission. However, they did not need these people.

To the act of "gross violations" (especially cute is the point about the stone sculpture, which was destroyed by someone unknown), the commission enclosed its own photos, but not documents, which describe the recorded state of the temple at the time of issuing the title for the community of the UOC. Apparently they were too busy to bother about them?

All this proved to be sufficient for the police of Kolomyia to open a criminal proceeding, the most realistic prospect of which is attempts to break the protection agreement. Raiders are not able to come up with any new schemes.

Cultural Revolution

What should raiders do if de facto legal owners of real estate are removed from it, and de jure – still retain the title? Correct! First of all, it is necessary to declare the owners bad.

A real cultural shock was attempted in 2015-2016 by representatives of the district and local authorities and targeted at the senior priest of the Holy Protection Church in the village of Gribovitsa in Volyn region, seized by the Kyiv Patriarchate. During the period of December-March, from the district department of culture four written requests came to him "to correct the revealed violations in the exterior of the temple" (which had already been seized by another denomination) or to come out for the dissolution of the protection agreement.

The fact that regional authorities concluded this document simultaneously with two legal entities – the Gribovitsa village council and the UOC community – did not immediately occur to officials. However, it is unlikely that the village council can be intimidated by the dissolution of the protection agreement: it does not surely need the temple.

At the same time, the "violations" in question as for the exterior of the 300-year-old Gribovitsa temple in the requirements of cultural terrorists concerned the replacement of windows and other forced works, which estimate was lawfully approved of by the UOC community and agreed on at all instances.

ISS “Uhryniv”

A scandalous raid of the UOC temple of Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Uhryniv village in the same Volyn region virtually entailed irreversible implications for the ancient shrine. Its sedate, discreet and originally solid image is left today only on archive photographs. The community of the UOC, expelled from the church by supporters of the Kyiv Patriarchate, does even not look at the affected religious building today: it has been completely redecorated and repainted in a radical brown color. Somewhere the sign on the door to the temple, which testifies to its status as an architectural monument of local significance, has disappeared for a while: the construction at the time of the raiders' attack was already 160 years old.

Now a desecrated temple in a metal glistening in the sun reminds, rather, an international space station than an old rural church.

Suspended from access to the temple, the priest of the UOC has tried many times to attract representatives of the district department of culture to rescue the exterior of the building. During one of the visits of officials to the village, the priest was attacked by an activist of the UOC-KP. On inquiries of local historians on whether there are any permits from the state to "repair" the temple in the village, there came unambiguous answers – "No". But this did not become an obstacle to further destruction of the monument.

Starting with the fact that fresh paintings on the inner walls were immediately painted over by the raiders just to accuse the senior priest of embezzling the money paid to artists, the offenders got excited and went on to external restructuring. Now the injured temple is "decorated" with a gilded dome with an eternally sagging cross.

Criminal proceedings in this case cannot be expected: the raid and "repair" of the temple was led by the local authoritative businessman, who is also a deputy of the regional council.

The guilty one is appointed

Obviously, the community in Kolomyia will be accused of unfair treatment of the ancient temple given to them. Perhaps the believers could have avoided troubles with officials if they had more actively repaired their property? Nope.

The community of St. Nicholas Cathedral of the UOC in Kremenets, Ternopil region, last year carried out urgent restoration work at its church, replacing the dome that had been damaged from the time. Prior to the restoration, the emergency condition of the structure was fixed. Nevertheless, officials also did not like it. In January 2017, the city council announced the requirement – a new dome from the cathedral should be removed.

The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in the village of Vorotnev in Volyn region also significantly changed its appearance. The construction of 1785 year, which fell into the hands of the Kyiv Patriarchate in 1992, was likewise adorned with golden domes. Apart from the narrow circle of specialists, no one got interested in the open destruction of the monument of architecture.

After the first mass attack by the raiders from the UOC-KP in 1992, Volyn relatively peacefully survived subsequent confrontations on the religious field. In addition to sensational clashes in Uhryniv known across Ukraine, here in 2014 the raiders captured only two more rural Orthodox churches, and another community of the UOC changed the denomination together with the senior priest.

The second captured parish of the UOC in Gorokhov district – the Holy Vvedensky temple of the village Pechiekhvosty, a religious building with more than 300-year history. The senior priest was simply driven away from the village after the attack of schismatics. He had stayed here literally for several years, but managed to replace windows in the temple with the permission of the district department of culture. At the same time, scrupulous officials insisted that one segment of the new window be painted with white paint so that its appearance did not differ from the previous one, which was preserved only on a photo in Ukrainian Wikipedia.

Apparently, self-proclaimed owners of the captured temple do not bother their heads with such trifles. For a couple of years of the KP rule in Pechiekvosty, the old church, just like in above Uhryniv, is completely ruined: now it is also painted in brown color adored by the raiders.

Finishing chord

The material would be incomplete without mentioning architectural feats of the scandalously famous Lutsk "ruler" - metropolitan of Volyn diocese of the UOC-KP Mikhail (Zinkevich).

The list of archaeological artifacts and monuments of national importance destroyed by him starts with:

• the Holy-Trinity Cathedral in Lutsk given to the Kiev Patriarchate, which heavily suffered as a result of unlawful repair works;
• demolished mount Romansovka, on which next to the cathedral now rises a new building of the educational institution of the UOC-KP eparchy;
• Brigidok monastery, transferred to Volyn eparchy of the UOC-KP in 2014 – now it is rebuilt to become a hostel;
• Bernardine monastery, whose building surrounds the territory of the Holy Trinity Cathedral, "grabbed" in 1992: the building and the territory are gradually becoming a kind of business-center , and those who interfere with it are simply thrown out of it.

Inspired by success, "Vladyka" cast his eyes on the territory of archaeological excavations of the oldest stone building in Lutsk, the remaining foundation of St John the Theologian temple. Of course, the immediate reaction of law enforcement agencies to arbitrariness of the Kyiv Patriarchate, for example, could have saved for history a number of architectural monuments of the region. But what for, if to this end it is necessary to say "No!" to venerable raiders with a pile of covered up criminal cases under their belt?

It's easier to write collective denunciations to the police about "traces of decay" in a small church that needs to be grabbed for the good people?