Crimean Eparchy of UOC-MP Asks Ukraine’s President to Return All Buildings of National Preserve of Tauric Chersonese

The Crimean Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) asks Ukraine’s president to return to it all the buildings of the National Preserve of Tauric Chersonese. Metropolitan Lazar (Shvets) of Simferopol and Crimea addressed Viktor Yanukovych with the official request to assist  in returning the St. Volodymyr’s Chersonese Men’s Monastery to the UOC-MP. The monastery, which was founded in the 19th century by Archbishop Inokentii of Kherson and Tauric, currently houses the museum of the National Preserve of Tauric Chersonese.

The letter stresses that the churches, monasteries, and monastery buildings that now belong to the preserve are used by the museum for non-intended purposes. According to the metropolitan, the Church of the Protection of the Holy Mother of God is used as the medieval hall of the museum, the monastery dining room as the antique hall, and the monastery hotel and brethren’s buildings as utility buildings.

The metropolitan also notes that the faithful of the UOC-MP have to buy a ticket of 30 UAH to enter the preserve so they may attend the Cathedral of St. Volodymyr.

According to Metropolitan Lazar, many pilgrims are surprised that “after they pay to enter the territory of the National Preserve of Tauric Chersonese,” they see “the churches and monastery buildings used for non-intended purposes and sometimes even defiled.”