Mayor of the City of Lvov
A. Sadovyi
Dear Sir,
on 14 December 2010, we requested You personally to put a place at our disposal where we could celebrate Divine Liturgies. Specifically, we applied for the Jesuit Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Lvov. You said that it was not possible because You had already donated it to the UGCC. You suggested that we should look for some other place in Lvov. We found a disused warehouse which was once a church. We bought it lawfully and it became our private property. We did most urgent repairs. We put on a new roof and now we use the church for regular worship and Liturgies for our faithful.
Dear Sir, on 17 June 2011 You brought an action against us in the Shevchenko district court, accusing us of illegal building works. You demand that we should bring the church back to its initial state, which means that it would be a warehouse again unusable for celebration of Divine Liturgies. It should be stressed that You have become an instrument of religious discrimination at the instigation of the Lvov archdiocese and the Redemptorists. These church representatives do not want our orthodox Catholic Church (UOGCC) to have its own church in Lvov.
This church, which served as a warehouse, is no cultural or architectural monument. If the UGCC hierarchy or the Redemptorists were interested in that church, why did they not take the initiative over the past 20 years?
According to the Constitution, the Church is separated from the state. We ask: Why did the City Council establish an office of a church political instructor (now O. Fredyna) last year? In addition, this makes one Church have an advantage over the other ones, which is prohibited by the law “On Freedom of Worship and Religious Organizations”.
On 30 June 2011, the City Council allowed the UGCC leadership to erect their cross at a distance of about 10 metres from our church. This permission practically means approval of and participation in illegal fomentation of religious intolerance. The cross was “sanctified” by the political instructor of the City Council O. Fredyna on 17 July 2011. One of the Redemptorists present at the ceremony said: “We have come here to tell the people in this area that there is a sect here.” This is grievous denigration by which he deliberately stirred up religious hatred.
Two days later they threw down a cross from the roof of our church and desecrated it. The deceived believers of the UGCC, provoked by religious hatred, injured five of our believers, threatened to burn the church down, to kill us, expel us... Why? Because the whole event is sponsored by the City Council which created conditions even for lynching orthodox believers. The supporters of the Redemptorists and of the UGCC hierarchy openly declared that they would take the chapel and expel us from that place, which is our private property. This is a clear manifestation of religious discrimination, which is a criminal act against the Ukrainian as well as international law.
Dear Sir, if Your request is complied with, on 28 July 2011 the court will commit an injustice. Orthodox Catholics – citizens of Lvov – will be illegally prevented from fulfilling their religious duties. We will be forced to demand observance of the basic human rights by appealing to higher and international authorities. It concerns the right to freedom of religion and freedom of performing one’s religious duties.
We would like to ask You to withdraw legal action initiated by the clergy of the UGCC and to help in justly eliminating the ongoing discrimination against the orthodox Catholics of Lvov.
On behalf of the UOGCC
+ Markian Hitiuk, Secretary
Lvov, 25 July 2011
Copies to:
- MPs of Ukraine
- MEPs
No comments:
Post a Comment