Occupation authorities dismantle roof of OCU church in Simferopol

Builders dismantled the roof of the Cathedral of the Holy and Equal-to-the-Apostles Volodymyr and Olha in Simferopol, according to Krym.Realia.

The builders who had previously fenced the cathedral building, removed the roofing materials from its roof. As a result, wooden roof beams are now unprotected from weather conditions, Archbishop Klyment of the Crimean Diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has reported.

“We did repairs of the roof of the cathedral in 2011, then I gave my own UAH 25,000.. Now these builders have removed the cover. They say that they are doing repairs. But because of this in the temple ceiling cracked. It can simply collapse,” said Bishop Klyment.

On June 18, it was found that the construction works were launched on the premises of St Volodymyr and Olha Cathedral of the OCU in Simferopol. Earlier, Archbishop Klyment said that the authorities of Crimea demanded "to vacate the premises" of the Cathedral of the Holy and Equal-to-the-Apostles Volodymyr and Olha in Simferopol. Russian authorities in Crimea issued an order to vacate the premises of the cathedral.

The Russian Ministry of Property of Crimea explained the demand to the Crimean diocese of the UOC-KP to vacate the building of the Cathedral in Simferopol citing expiry of the contract with the diocese of the UOC-KP, which joined the newly-established Orthodox Church of Ukraine.