UOC: Unique churches being destroyed but no one held accountable

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has stated that the destruction of sacred architectural monuments continues in the absence of responsibility for their condition. This is reported by the UOC Information and Educational Department with reference to publications about the condition of the Elijah Church in Sivershchyna, Chernihiv region.

As noted by the press service, "despite loud statements about preserving cultural heritage and converting active churches to museum status, unique monuments continue to fall into decay." The Elijah Church is cited as an example – a defensive-type church that is called unique for Left-Bank Ukraine.

According to information posted in open sources, the shrine suffered significant destruction back in the 20th century, and is currently in an abandoned state, while restoration work has virtually stopped. On the Facebook page of the "Architecture of Ukraine" project, photographs were published illustrating the complete neglect of the church.

The network also reports the transfer of the church to a UOC-KP structure, however, in fact, as emphasized in the UOC, it is used by an OCU community.

"Against the backdrop of nitpicking accusations against UOC religious communities regarding improper maintenance of shrines, facts of monument destruction under the control of other denominations and state institutions remain without proper reaction," emphasized the Information and Educational Department.

As the UOJ wrote, new cases of church destruction due to government inaction are being recorded in Ukraine.