Authorities of Dnipropetrovsk Transfer Property from Orphanage to Ukrainian Orthodox Church Nunnery

On November 3 the Economic Court of Appeal of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast passed a resolution to pass the buildings of a children's boarding school located on former church land to the ownership of the women's Monastery of St. Tykhvyn of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate. "The monastery has regained its pre-revolution property. And over 200 invalid children found themselves in the street," informs podrobnosti.ua.

The public prosecutor of the Dnipropetrovsk Region, Natalia Didiuk, expressed her surprise over the decision of the court. According to her, the decision violates the rights of the children. "As we said at the court session, the children find themselves in the street," added she.

The parents of the alumni of Boarding School 1 for children with mental and physical disabilities are determined: if no other building is found for the children, they are ready to organize protests and "even address the president."

According to the deputy director of the boarding school, Olena Sukhykh, special methods of education are used in the school, individual development programs are chosen for each child. Six kinds of activity, such as play, training, relaxation, and art-therapy alternate during a lesson.

The court transferred to the nuns the classrooms, gym, and cafeteria. Therefore, the school is under the threat of closure. Now the school has only two small buildings, which cannot house all the children. And it is impossible to transfer them anywhere because, according to the employees of the school, there are no similar institutions in the city.

"We will send a complaint to the supreme court of cassation of Ukraine. We have no other way out," said a representative of the school, Svitlana Bedletska.

The Dnipropetrovsk Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church calls the decision just. "According to the information of the Dnipropetrovsk State Archives, the buildings were used by the monastery. We believe that the Ukrainian state must fulfill the assumed obligations to transfer the property to religious organizations. It was not possible to settle the conflict peacefully and representatives of the monastery approached the court," commented a representative of the eparchy, Andrii Patyka.

The court proceedings continued for nearly a year. In the autumn, the Economic Court of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast passed a resolution in favor of the monastery. The school tried to dispute the decision but the court of appeal left the decision unchanged.