The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine has announced the completion of the work of the ‘commission for the acceptance and transfer of the state property of the National Architectural and Historical Reserve “Ancient Chernihiv”’. The Ministry of Culture informed about it on its website on 14 November 2023, the Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church reports.
It is noted that the commission inspected 18 objects, including the complexes of buildings of the Yeletskyi Monastery (XII-XVII centuries) and the Holy Trinity Monastery (XVII-XVIII centuries) and the Cathedral of the Holy Transfiguration of the Saviour (XI century), which were in the use of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as well as Saint Paraskevi Church (XII century) and Saint Catherine Church (XVIII century), which belong to the OCU.
According to the Ministry, the objects used by the UOC are ‘in unsatisfactory condition’ and require repair, restoration and conservation work. The commission also recommended that the monuments should be ‘museumised’.
The officials said that ‘it should be preceded by urgent comprehensive research and design work, which will be completed by the end of this year’.
‘In turn, the Commission generally assessed the condition of Saint Paraskevi Church, Saint Catherine Church, and Saint Anthony’s Caves (except for the underground churches) as satisfactory’, the Ministry said in its statement.
It should be noted that despite the obvious flaws in the preservation of Saint Paraskevi Church and Saint Catherine Church, the commission of the Ministry of Culture did not seal them, making it impossible to visit them. At the same time, the UOC churches were closed to the public from the very beginning of the commission’s inspection and access to them was blocked by people in camouflage uniforms. As for the published conclusions on the state of the architectural monuments, for the believers of the Chernihiv region, they will mean that the Holy Trinity Church, the Сhurch of the Holy Transfiguration of the Saviour, and the Dormition Church, along with the relics of Saint Theodosius of Chernihiv, Saint Philaret of Chernihiv, and Saint Lawrence of Chernihiv, will be taken away from the UOC and closed to the public. In turn, the churches of the OCU remain freely accessible.
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