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