Lvov--Orthodox Demonstrate For Their Rights

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http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;8602/

Lviv Orthodox Demonstrate for their Rights
03.01.2006, [19:01] // UOC-MP //

Lviv – On 28 December 2005, faithful of St. Volodymyr Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) in western Ukrainian Lviv prayed in front of the Lviv Regional Administration (LRA) and the Lviv City Council. The protest was motivated by attempts of local authorities to deprive the community of the land where the St, Volodymyr Church-Chapel is located and to transfer the land for the construction of a house. Nearly 200 faithful of the UOC-MP took part in the protest/prayer demonstration

Stanislav Sheremeta, head of the Department of Internal Policy of the LRA, and other officials who went up to the picketers promised to bring up this problem at a round-table discussion with representatives of the LRA planned for early January 2006.

The Orthodox faithful did not see any reaction from the Lviv City Council so they said they would resume the prayer/demonstration there on 29 December.

According to information RISU received from the Department of Religions and Nationalities at the LRA, the community of the UOC-MP is struggling to keep a land plot (0.25 hectares) on the south side of Lviv, Chervonoyi Kalyny Prospect, 89, which borders the plot of the community of the UOC-Kyivan Patriarchate. In the past, there was a single Orthodox community which was given the land on which to build a church. But after the schism, each community has its own chapel, one next to the other.

The issue of the religious community was not discussed at the 29 December session of the Lviv City Council because of a conflict between local deputies and the former mayor of Lviv, who was recently returned to his position by the Kyiv Arbitrations Court.

Source: press service of the Lviv Eparchy of the UOC-MP

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http://directionstoorthodoxy.org/mod/ne ... le_id=6801

Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Filaret, center, blesses the water of the Dnieper river as Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, left, looks on as Orthodox believers celebrate Epiphany in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2006. Armed adherents of the ‘Kievan Patriarchate’ attempt to prevent a procession with the cross in Ostrog

Filaret, leader of one of Ukraine's Orthodox churches (C), dips a cross into the Dniepr River to bless the water as President Viktor Yushchenko (C second row) looks on during Orthodox Epiphany ceremonies in Kiev, January 19, 2006. Orthodox Ukrainians celebrated Epiphany on Thursday by immersing themselves in icy water despite subzero temperatures. REUTERS/Str

Moscow, January 20, Interfax - The Ukrainian city of Ostrog near Rovno has witnessed a fight between parishioners of the canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine and adherents of the self-styled Patriarchate of Kiev.

As Valery Kaurov, chairman of the Union of Orthodox Citizens in Ukraine, stated, a procession with the cross was held on Friday there in defense of the canonical Orthodoxy. ‘The procession has been prompted by the incessant attempts of the ‘Patriarchate of Kiev’ for a fourth months now to take away from the parishioners their Church of the Holy Resurrection in Ostrog’, Kaurov explained.

The procession with the cross was led by Archbishop Varfolomey of Rovno and Ostrog. The supporters of the Union of Orthodox Citizens in Ukraine came from the diocese of Rovno and Lutsk in 15 buses to support their bishop and the Church.

Rovno Governor Vasily Chervony, though, forbade the Orthodox cross-procession.

According to Kaurov, during the procession the marchers were approached by the Kievan Patriarchate supporters armed with clubs and knives, who went for them.

On January 22, the Union of Orthodox Citizens is to hold a mass cross-procession in Kiev in protest against the ‘attempts of the Uniates to occupy’ St. Sophia in Kiev and for its immediate return to the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Kaurov said.

[Kollyvas]

http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;8773/

Ukrainian Copy of Turin Shroud to be Venerated in St. Sophia’s
21.01.2006, [16:21] // Religious ceremony //

Kyiv— The eight world copy of the Shroud of Turin, produced for Ukraine, will be presented for veneration in St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Kyiv (vul. Volodymyrska, 28), starting on 22 January at 9 a.m. It will be available for viewing the whole day. Admission is free. For additional information, contact Fr. Roman Kravchyk, (066)247-68-17. The veneration of the shroud in St. Sophia’s was the subject of some controversy, as on 16 January sedmitza.ru called this an act of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics “deliberately provocative towards the Orthodox.”

Source and previous related RISU story:

• http://www.unian.net/ukr/news/news-96128.html

• http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;8771

http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;8771/

Ukrainian Greek Catholics Want Shroud for Veneration in St. Sophia’s in Kyiv
21.01.2006, [16:16] // Inter-Christian relations //

Kyiv– Members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) want to allow Ukrainians “to pray jointly” before a copy of the Shroud of Turin. According to a 17 January 2005 statement of a spokeman for the Ukrainian Society of the Shroud of Turin, this is why the society hopes to place a copy of the relic in St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Kyiv. This was in response to a 16 January item on sedmitza.ru claiming “Uniates [Eastern-rite Catholics] continue attempts to seize Sophia of Kyiv.”

The news item on sedmitza.ru said that representatives of the UGCC intend to set out “the Belarusian copy of the Shroud of Turin for veneration by their faithful” on 22 January. “If this takes place, the action of the Uniates can be considered as deliberately provocative towards the Orthodox,” reported sedmitza.ru.

Mitred Priest Fr. Roman Kravchyk, head of the Ukrainian Society of the Shroud of Turin, commented on the item.

Fr. Kravchyk explained that the initiative for setting out the Ukrainian (not Belarusian) copy of the shroud was put forward by people’s deputies of Ukraine Pavlo Kachur, Stepan Davymuka, and Pavlo Movchan, who are members of the society. The Ukrainian Society of the Shroud of Turin has 18 members of the Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic denominations. This society is the particularly responsible for the Ukrainian copy of the Shroud of Turin, and the copy itself is a property of Ukraine, and not of any particular denomination, as Patriarch Lubomyr (Husar), head of the UGCC, has said more than once.

“As a religious association, we do not make claims on any church building,” said Fr. Kravchyk. “The idea to set out the copy of the Shroud of Turin was put forward by the deputies of Parliament. We wanted to pray jointly before the eighth world copy of the Shroud of Turin, produced in Ukraine on occasion of the 87th Anniversary of the Act of Unification of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic with the Ukrainian People’s Republic. It has not been confirmed so far that the copy of the shroud will be set out in St. Sophia’s. We will not protest if this is not allowed by the authorities. However, in my opinion, the Church of St. Sophia is a good place for the joint prayer of members of different churches of Ukraine, since it is a museum now, that is, non-denominational.”

Source:

• http://www.ugcc.org.ua/ukr/press-releases/article;2862/

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http://directionstoorthodoxy.org/mod/ne ... le_id=6823

Orthodox Christians in Kiev demanded the return of St. Sophia cathedral to the canonical Church

Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Filaret, centre, blesses the water of the Dnieper river as Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, left, looks on as Orthodox believers celebrate Epiphany in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2006. A cold snap coincided with Thursday's Ukrainian Orthodox holiday of the Epiphany, and many kept up an annual ritual by jumping into holes cut into thick ice on rivers and ponds to cleanse themselves with water deemed holy for the day. The tradition imitates the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan. (AP Photo/ Mykola Lazarenko, Presidential Press Service )
Kiev, January 23, Interfax - Action to demand the return of St. Sophia Cathedral to the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church was held in Kiev on Sunday, participating in which were members of the Union of Orthodox Citizens of Ukraine and Orthodox Christians of Kiev.

Several thousand people participated in the procession with the cross, vigil and rally.

The participants picketed against the intention of the adherents of the Greek Catholic church (the Uniates) to exhibit a replica of the Shroud of Turin in St. Sophia cathedral. Participants in the action consider this intention as an attempt to seize St. Sophia cathedral, which is an Orthodox holy place.

‘We shall continue our vigils at St. Sophia in Kiev until this great holy place of the Orthodox world, where the princes of Kievan Rus’ were crowned to reign, from where Orthodox faith has spread throughout the Russian land, is not returned to the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox church’, chairman of the Union of Orthodox citizens of Ukraine Valery Kaurov said.

He underscored that ‘any encroachment of the uniates and schismatics on the holy place is a blasphemy. We shall not permit it’.

Earlier the Ukrainian Orthodox Church stated that according to received information, the Ukrainian state leadership decided to permit Greek Catholics to bring a Byelorussian replica of the Shroud of Turin to St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev and conduct a so-called ‘common service by representatives of different confessions’ at the Orthodox holy place on January 22.

‘Uniates ignored the opinion of Orthodox Ukrainians and continue their expansion in the capital of country striving to seize St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev’, Orthodox Church press-service reported.

However, bad weather prevented the replica of the Shroud of Turin to be brought from Lvov to Kiev. A heated conflict has developed between Orthodox and Greek Catholics in Ukraine because of the shroud.

[Kollyvas]

(Pardon Russian ebonics spellings...)

http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;8954/

UOC-MP Orthodox to Receive Kharkiv Church
03.02.2006, [17:39] // UOC-MP //

Kharkiv – At present the Church of the Holy Protection in Chuhuiv, in eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, holds a picture gallery. This year 1.5 million hryvnias (approximately $US 300,000) will be given to restore one of the buildings of the noted Chuhuiv School of Cartographers. Then the church building will be given to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) for the use of the faithful. Kharkivoda.gov.ua posted the news on 31 January 2006.

According to Arsen Avakov, head of the Kharkiv Regional Administration (KRA), it is planned to conduct repairs, install the heating system and remove the gallery from the building. “It is possible to place certain educational centers there and to turn the former School of Cartographers into a cultural spiritual center, a kind of local hermitage,” said Avakov.

“We will give the Church of the Holy Protection to the faithful and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will be able to start the repairs in the summer already,” underlined the head of the KRA.

Source:

• http://www.kharkivoda.gov.ua/news.php?n ... bscriber=1

[Kollyvas]

http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;8942/

Monasteries to be Returned to UOC-MP Orthodox in Khmelnytskyi
03.02.2006, [13:51] // UOC-MP //

Khmelnytskyi – On 30 January 2006, Archbishop Antonii (Fialko) of Khmelnytskyi and Shepetivka of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church- Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) received Ivan Hladuniak, governor of western Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi region, at his residence. The governor promised to create all the necessary conditions to transfer the patients and medical personnel of Psychiatric Hospital # 2 to other buildings. The local authorities plan to give the hospital premises to Holy Nativity Monastery in the village of Horodyshche, Shepetivka district. In addition, some hospital buildings located in the town of Starokonstantyniv will be transferred to the Monastery of the Holy Cross.

Also, Hladuniak emphasized the importance of the work of Orthodox priests in the revival of spirituality in the region and bringing children up in the spirit of love. In turn, Archbishop Antonii thanked the governor for respecting the UOC-MP and for assistance in solving problems that sometimes occur on the way to constructive dialog between church and state.

Source:

• http://orthodoxy.org.ua/uk/node/426

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http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;8972/

City to Repair Caves of Kyiv Monastery
06.02.2006, [13:29] // Church-state relations //

Kyiv – The Kyiv City Administration (KCA) has decided to repair the upper caves of the Kyivan Monastery of the Caves Historical and Cultural Reserve in 2006. obkom.net.ua posted the news on 3 February 2006.

The KCA made this decision after the committee studied the reasons for a May 2005 landslide in the caves. The KRA appointed the Ukrrestoration Corporation to repair damages by July 2006.

The Kyivan Monastery of the Caves belongs to the world cultural heritage of UNESCO.

Situated on the premises of the monastery are 122 architectural monuments. It is divided into two parts: the upper and the lower monasteries. The upper monastery is a national historical cultural reserve under the jurisdiction of Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture. The lower monastery holds a men’s monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate.

Source and related previous RISU news:

• http://obkom.net.ua/news/2006-02-03/1448.shtml?rss

• http://risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;5591/