Holy Spirit Monastery and Ternopil RSA dispute ownership of Pochaiv skete

Pochayiv Holy Spirit Monastery Skete. Photo: Raskolam.net

The Ternopil Regional State Administration and the Holy Spirit Pochaiv Monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) have filed counter-appeals with the Western Court of Appeal in Lviv regarding the ownership rights of the complex of buildings belonging to the Holy Spirit Monastery Skete, recognized as an architectural monument. This was reported by the Unified State Register of Court Decisions.

The UOC monastery is challenging the decision of the first-instance court concerning the expropriation of the monastery's complex. In turn, the Ternopil Regional State Administration claims that the ownership rights to the complex were transferred to the UOC monastic community in violation of the law.

The court decided to combine the appeals from the Pochayiv City Council and the Holy Spirit Monastery of the UOC into a single proceeding for review in the Western Court of Appeal.

It is worth noting that on August 14, 2024, the Economic Court of the Ternopil region ruled to expropriate the premises of the Holy Spirit Monastery Skete, citing violations in the process of transferring religious buildings, which are considered architectural monuments, into the ownership of the UOC.

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