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14.11.2007, [11:19] // UGCC // RISU.ORG.UA

Yalta – A group of Orthodox faithful in Crimean Yalta have taken steps which would annul official status of the local Greek-Catholic community. On 6 November 2007, the Yalta City Court opened a hearing attempting to deprive the community of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) registration as a religious organization. The group is using this method to attempt to block construction of a Greek Catholic Church in the city.

Group representatives claim that Yalta has few Greek Catholics and the UGCC is part of the Roman Catholic Church, so there is no need for a separate church building. On the other hand, they say that the Orthodox churches are overcrowded. According to representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), the Orthodox in Yalta do not have enough land for the construction of churches.

In Yalta the Greek Catholic community has existed since 1994 and, from the first day, has addressed the Yalta City Council to allot land. Yalta has nearly 200 Greek Catholic families, who have no alternative but to celebrate liturgies in the Roman Catholic Church or, if weather permitting, near the cross, established on the place of the future church, in the open air.