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Municipal
Authorities of Odessa Attempt to Seize Church
Believers
of other confessions fall to disfavor in Odessa.
They are not given back confiscated, and if they are, attempts
are made to re-confiscate them. A clear example of this is
the history of the building of the former baptistry
of the Church of St. Alexei in Odessa. Five years ago it was
given to the parish of Royal Martyr St. Alexei, part of the
True Russian Orthodox Church. Official documents from the
President of the Malinov Regional Municipal Administration
of 5/7/1998 reflect this.
But for the present city leader, Ruslan Bodelan, this apparently
has no meaning.
At a hearing of the Odessa Municipal Council on 11 July, he
produced a plan according to which the church building, previously
granted to the True Russian Orthodox Church to the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Despite objections from the faithful and the rector of the
Church of Royal Martyr St. Alexei, Fr. Valeriy Alekseev, the
decision of 9 July was not overturned.
There was no response to the letter written by His Grace Bishop
Agathangel of Simferopol and Crimea to the Head of the Odessa
Municipality, Ruslan Bodelan, and the President of the Odessa
Oblast State Administration, Sergei Grinevetskiy.
Ruslan Bodelan refused to meet with Vladyka, and his aide
had a brief conversation with him at the entrance.
On 11 July, the worshipers of the Church of St. Alexei held
a prayer vigil near the Palace of Sailors, where the regular
session of the Odessa Municipal Council was being held. Participants
in the vigil arrived with a cross, icons and banners, they
read an akathist and sang church hymns.
At the end of the vigil, the Administrator of the Odessa City
Executive Council emerged and offered to meet with them the
following Tuesday or Wednesday to discuss the problem in detail.
According to Rector of the church, the dean of SS Kyrill and
Mefodii Orthodox Seminary in Odessa, Protopriest Valeriy Alekseev:
Declaring their readiness to negotiate, the authorities
did not reject the idea of confiscating the church from us
and giving us another building.
Who dares to remove a cupol from a church, and take
out the icons and altar table? We would not dare. For the
church contains relics of St. Elizabeth Feodorovna the Royal
New Martyr. This is simply absurd.
We hope that our interests will be considered during
the negotiations. We have no conflicts with anyone, we treat
other churches with respect, but only hope that we are understood...
In the evening of 11 July, a general parish meeting was held.
It was decided to fight for the possession of the church.
According to Fr. Valeriy: For us, this is a church already
imbued with prayer. Divine liturgy has been celebrated here
for over five years.
This place is sacred for us and this chapel was erected in
honor of Tsarevich Alexei. And the site upon which the church
stands, prior to the Revolution, was not simply called Alekseevskaya,
but Tsarevich Alexei Place. Archival documents
confirm this today.
The Moscow Patriarchate, with few exceptions, practically
does not commemorate the Royal New Martyrs. For us, this is
our feast day.
Protests are increasing with each day...
From materials provided by Igor Stolyarov
Odessa, Ukraine
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