Stary Gvozdets council illegally transfers UOC church to schismatics

The Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in the village of Stary Gvozdets

In the village of Stary Gvozdets of the Ivano-Frankovsk region, the deputies of the village council illegally transferred the church of the UOC community to the Kiev Patriarchate, reports the Legal Department of the Ivano-Frankovsk eparchy of the UOC.

At the February session of 2018, deputies of the Stary Gvozdets village council decided to hand over the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos to the "community" of the schismatics. One of the decisions made by the deputies allowed the supporters of the UOC KP to receive a certificate of ownership, although such certificates have no longer been issued since January 1, 2016.

The head of the village council Mikhail Dyakov repeatedly claimed that "the temple is the property of the village". At the same time, the Ivano-Frankovsk Regional State Administration was reported that the church belongs to the state, and not to the territorial community. Therefore, questions about the ownership and use of the temple should be decided by the Ivano-Frankovsk Regional State Administration.

On August 1, the Ivano-Frankovsk police department began a pre-trial investigation under part 1, art. 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of authority or office) in connection with the transfer of the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in the village of Stary Gvozdets to the ownership of the Kiev Patriarchate.

Actions of the head of the village council, in case of detection of criminal offense, can entail imprisonment for a period of six months to three years.

At the moment, the community of the UOC is conducting home-based divine services and developing a project for the construction of a new church.

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