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26 November 2018, 11:44Pochayev Lavra to continue using assets on its grounds despite Justice Ministry's decision - Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Kiev, November 26, Interfax - The decision of the Ukrainian Justice Ministry to cancel the state registration of some of the Pochayev Lavra's assets does not mean the monastery has no right to use them, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) said.
"The Pochayev Lavra will remain in the legal and lawful use of the friary of the UOC monastery," the UOC's chief lawyer Archpriest Alexander Bakhov wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday.
The 2003 agreement on the use of the Pochayev Lavra structures (temples, the belfry, cells, and so on) is "effective and not canceled" to this day, he said.
The Justice Ministry's decision to remove from register the entry regarding the right to use the monastery's structures does not invalidate the agreement, he said.
"At the same time, the right of use gained prior to 2013 is not subject to mandatory state registration. Therefore, the cancellation of this state registration does not deprive the UOC monastery of the right to use the structures of the Holy Dormition Pochayev Lavra," the priest said.
Such a decision can be successfully appealed in court, he said.
The lawyer then asked all those concerned not to incite religious hatred and refrain from unlawful activities against believers and the monastery's friars.
It was reported yesterday that a Justice Ministry commission had concluded that the right to use the Pochayev Lavra complex (the Dormition and Trinity cathedrals, monastic cells, the archbishop's house, the belfry and the entrance gate structure) was registered in 2013 (under President Viktor Yanukovich) with law violations.
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