UOC-KP Complains to President About Crimean Authorities
Clergymen, scholars, journalists and artists of the Crimean Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) complained to Ukraine’s president about the local authorities who have delayed for 15 years to allocate land plots for the construction of churches of the Kyivan Patriarchate, the website of the UOC-KP reports.
According to the authors of the address, in 2008, the Simferopol City Executive Committee passed a decision to grant permission to select a land plot for the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior of the UOC-KP on Kyiv Street. In 2010, the community received the act of the selection of the land plot. The deputies of the City Council were only to vote and allow the elaboration of a project of land development regarding the allocation of a land plot of 0.49 hectares.
“On March 4, we learned that on February 16, 2012, the deputies of the Simferopol City Council cynically passed a decision not to allocate the land plot for the construction of the Cathedral of the UOC-KP due to the fact that the city master plan changed in September 2011. This reason for which we were refused to receive the land plot is illegitimate. The city development master plan does not define which objects are to be built,” reads the address.
“At the same time, new land plots appear for the construction of religious buildings of another Orthodox denomination, whereas previously approved land plots for the construction of churches of the Kyivan Patriarchate disappear from the city master plan,” noted the faithful of the UOC-KP.
The clergymen, scholars, journalists and artists of the Crimean Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate stress that the Constitution of Ukraine guarantees equal rights to all the denominations and, therefore, ask Viktor Yanukovych to set up a standing Council of Churches which would be run by the Representative Office of Ukraine’s president in the Crimean Autonomous Republic and fulfill the functions of an advisory body.
