Authorities cancel permanent use of heritage churches

The Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernihiv, taken from the UOC by the Ministry of Culture. Photo: suspilne.media

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has prohibited the transfer of churches to religious organizations for permanent use. The new government resolution introduces new rules under which a religious organization will receive access to a place of worship only during certain hours for the performance of religious services.

The Ministry of Culture prepared a draft of amendments that completely deprives communities of the ability to fully manage church property. A system of time-distributed access according to a pre-agreed schedule is now being introduced.

State institutions will have sole control over church premises, while believers will retain only the right to hold religious services during hours strictly designated by officials.

As justification for the decision, officials point out that "religious organizations do not always have sufficient resources to maintain heritage sites, carry out necessary restoration work, and protect structures from damage, destruction, or demolition."

At the same time, the Ministry of Culture used extremely vague wording in the document, under which virtually any place of worship in the country could fall. The text states that the new rules will apply to sites that "require a special usage regime" or are "used jointly by communities and cultural institutions."

Officially, the Ministry of Culture explained the changes as being motivated by concerns over the preservation of heritage sites and religious organizations’ lack of resources. At the same time, the new rules effectively benefit only the OCU, which has neither the financial capacity nor enough worshippers to maintain the churches on its own.

As the UOJ reported, new cases of church destruction over government inaction are being recorded in Ukraine.

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