Official accuses UOC of dragging out Epiphany Monastery case
Reserve officials complained that lawyers had obstructed the seizure of church property for three years.
Deputy director of the Kremenets-Pochaiv Reserve Ihor Derevynsky called the appellate court’s ruling on the UOC’s Epiphany Monastery the “final point” in a case that had been under consideration for nearly three years. Suspilne Ternopil reports that officials plan to return the architectural monument to state operational control in the near future.
Derevynsky accused the UOC of using special “know-how” to delay the court proceedings, which led to more than 40 hearings. According to the official, lawyers filed claims on behalf of third parties unrelated to the dispute and appealed refusals in higher courts.
The legal process was initiated after the agreement on the free use of the monastery premises expired in September 2023.
The reserve has not yet decided whether the seized buildings will be leased to other religious communities. Meanwhile, ministry representatives thanked the lawyers for “defending state interests” in the struggle over the monastery complex.
Earlier, UOJ reported that on May 6, 2026, the Western Commercial Court of Appeal ordered the Holy Epiphany Monastery to hand over its historic buildings to the state.
The ruling concerns a complex of architectural monuments with a total area of 3,218 square meters. The seized property includes the Epiphany Cathedral of 1760, the monastery cell block built the same year, and a 20th-century bell tower.
