Expropriation of the Dormition Cathedral of the UOC
Cathedral address: Cherkasy Region, Kaniv, Nebesnoi Sotni St., 62.
At the beginning of 2024, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine launched a process to expropriate the ancient Assumption Cathedral of the UOC in the city of Kaniv, Cherkasy Region.
Orthodox Christians began the process of reclaiming the cathedral back in 1989. After the collapse of the USSR, the cathedral was finally returned to the ownership of the parishioners of the UOC.
The faithful restored the cathedral with their own efforts after decades of destruction of the church by the Soviet regime. The wall paintings alone took 15 years to complete.
Representatives of law enforcement agencies declared that the cathedral is a “national treasure” and achieved the transfer of ownership rights to the church to a museum complex. The religious community was forced to leave its cathedral.
On February 14, 2024, the Cherkasy Regional Prosecutor’s Office filed a lawsuit against the UOC and the Kaniv City Council seeking to “return” to the state a land plot of almost 4,200 sq. m on which the Assumption Cathedral in Kaniv is located.
The prosecutor’s office noted that during the transfer of the land plot to the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC, legal requirements were allegedly violated. In particular, according to the agency, “the designated purpose of the land plot was changed from historical and cultural to public land.”
In the lawsuit itself, prosecutors demand that the decision of the Kaniv City Council to transfer the land to the UOC be declared illegal and annulled, and that the act granting the right of permanent use of the land plot be declared invalid and its state registration canceled.
At the same time, the agency reminded that, in parallel, a court case is being considered regarding the “return” of the Assumption Cathedral to state ownership.
On March 27, 2024, the court ordered the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC to return the cathedral to state ownership.
Prosecutors demanded that the decision of the Kaniv City Council, which in 2003 granted permission to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to formalize ownership of the archaeological monument, be declared illegal and annulled. Subsequently, this served as the basis for registering collective ownership rights. The prosecution argued that the law establishes a direct prohibition on the alienation of cultural heritage monuments that are in state ownership.
The court satisfied the claim of the district prosecutor’s office, filed in the interests of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, against the executive committee of the Kaniv City Council and the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC.
On the same day, March 27, 2024, the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC issued a statement expressing disagreement with the adopted decision and preparation for the appeal procedure.
The Legal Department of the UOC emphasized that a decision of any commercial court is not final. According to Articles 241 and 256 of the Commercial Procedural Code of Ukraine, it enters into legal force only after the expiration of the period for filing an appeal, if no appeal has been filed.
“As of today, the full text of the decision of the Commercial Court of the Cherkasy Region dated March 18, 2024, in case No. 925/1107/23 has not been prepared, has not been published on the official portals of the Judicial Authority of Ukraine, and has not been received by the parties,” the UOC lawyers reported.
This means that the relevant court decision has not even entered into legal force. The Legal Department also noted that they still have time to file an appeal.
In this regard, the UOC stated that publications on the topic of the “return by the prosecutor’s office of the Assumption Cathedral in the city of Kaniv to state ownership” and similar conclusions are premature.
“The Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, disagreeing with the decision of the Commercial Court of the Cherkasy Region, is preparing for the procedure of appeal,” the statement says.
On May 23, 2024, a court hearing took place in connection with the appeal of the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC regarding the decision of the Commercial Court of the Cherkasy Region to return the 12th-century Assumption Cathedral in Kaniv, Cherkasy Region, to state ownership.
As believers reported on social media, the court rejected the UOC’s appeal.
On August 10, 2024, the Cherkasy Regional Administration initiated a “general meeting of the religious community” of the cathedral, which the state had taken away from the UOC, with the aim of transferring it to the jurisdiction of the OCU.
“The Cherkasy Regional Military Administration has considered the appeal of the religious organization ‘Kaniv Assumption Cathedral’ dated July 31, 2024, regarding permission to hold a general meeting of the religious community in the city of Kaniv and informs as follows. (…) The Cherkasy Regional Military Administration approves the holding of a general meeting of the religious community in the city of Kaniv on August 10, 2024, at 10:00, in connection with a change in canonical and jurisdictional affiliation from the ‘Ukrainian Orthodox Church’ to the ‘Orthodox Church of Ukraine,’ subject to compliance with security requirements and the availability of shelters,” the decision of the Cherkasy Regional State Administration stated.
On the same day, August 10, 2024, the real religious community of the cathedral gathered in the cathedral.
Earlier, the Cherkasy Regional Military Administration had granted permission to hold a meeting of an allegedly religious community of the UOC, so the faithful took advantage of the situation and held another vote.
“Today, when criminals planned to begin the process of falsifying documents, the real parish of the cathedral gathered in its shrine… All parishioners of the cathedral unanimously decided to remain within the fold of the UOC!” the statement said.
It is noted that already at 10:30, minutes of the meeting were submitted to the Cherkasy Regional Military Administration, testifying to the will of the community.
On December 18, 2024, a commission of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine complained that the UOC community did not allow them into the cathedral.
From September 6, 2024, according to a decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, the church became state property and was transferred to the balance of the Kaniv National Shevchenko Reserve.
According to the head of the reserve, Valentyna Kovalenko, the commission was met by Father Heorhii together with the UOC community. He stated: “Our church has been here from the very first day,” and in response to a question about affiliation with the Moscow Patriarchate said that these are groundless accusations, since there is no mention of the MP in the documents of the UOC.
The commission was allowed only to inspect the exterior, since, according to Father Heorhii, there was no blessing from the Kyiv Diocese to allow access inside.
Father Heorhii emphasized that most of the renovation work on the cathedral and its surrounding area was carried out at the expense of the UOC; therefore, the inventory of property should take place under the supervision of the community.
“We came to bare walls. There wasn’t even a proper floor here. We did everything to ensure that this cathedral would be an ornament not only of our city, but of the entire Orthodox world. We will also comply with the court decision. But we want it to be done in a civilized manner. We will act so that we are not ashamed to look each other in the eyes,” he said.
The UOC cleric also added that 200–300 people regularly attend the liturgy in the cathedral, and that the UOC community has the right to be allowed to pray in the church.
Ultimately, the parties agreed to expand the composition of the commission and meet again the following week. Valentyna Kovalenko added that in the future it is planned to create an exhibition for visitors in the church and to lease the church for religious services through a competition organized by the State Property Fund.
On December 14, 2024, the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine officially announced the expropriation of the cathedral into state ownership.
The church was registered in the State Register of Property Rights to Real Estate as state property represented by the Ministry of Culture and transferred for operational management to the Shevchenko National Reserve.
“Thanks to the systematic and persistent work of the team of the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine together with the Smila District Prosecutor’s Office of the Cherkasy Region, it was possible to restore justice and ensure the registration of rights and the legal formalization of the return of the monument to state ownership,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Ministry called this event “another step in the fight to restore historical justice,” since, in the opinion of officials, the UOC community had been using the cathedral illegally for 20 years.
On February 14, 2025, the Shevchenko National Reserve, with the assistance of the enforcement service and police, gained access to the Kaniv Assumption Cathedral in the Cherkasy Region.
This was written on Facebook by the former head of the Shevchenko National Reserve, Valentyna Kovalenko.
“Finally, the UOC MP has slunk away from the Assumption Cathedral,” the official stated.
According to her, by evening a security alarm system was installed in the Orthodox shrine.
(Source: Kovalenko’s Facebook page)
On February 28, 2025, in Kaniv, following a lawsuit by the Smila District Prosecutor’s Office, the state act granting the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC the right of permanent use of the land under the Assumption Cathedral was annulled.
The agency stated that the land under the national-level archaeological monument—the Assumption Cathedral built in 1144—was “returned to the state.”
“The prosecutor’s office is taking measures to form a new land plot as land of historical and cultural designation,” the prosecutor’s office wrote.
On May 22, 2025, the Ministry of Culture, represented by Minister Mykola Tochytskyi, transferred St. George’s Cathedral in Kaniv to the OCU. Tochytskyi stated that Dumenko “conducted the first large-scale All-Ukrainian interconfessional prayer, marking this historic step.”
“The church where the Ukrainian community bade farewell to Taras Shevchenko for two days 164 years ago has finally entered the spiritual space of Ukraine, having freed itself from the parasitism of Moscow churchmen. The process of cleansing Ukrainian shrines is a priority that requires effective decisions,” the official stated.
КУ ст. 35 (свобода вероисповедания) · ЕСПЧ ст. 9 · Нормы ООН