Court Case against the Church

Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Odessa, Ukraine

The following Open Letter was published 16 February 2007 in Komsomolskaya Pravda, p. 24f

Open Letter from the Leaders of the Christian Churches
of Odessa and the Odessa region

TO: The mass media, the General Public, Politicians, Statesmen, 
        Defenders of Human Rights and all people in Europe of goodwill

“You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the
great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for the judgment is God’s.’’
                                                    (Holy Bible, Deuteronomy 1:17)

We, the leaders of the various Christian churches of the Odessa region, wish to draw the public’s attention to a problem that for many years has remained unresolved and has created continual pain for our brothers and sisters of the Evangelical Reformed Presbyterian Church of Odessa.

In 1998, historic justice was served. On the grounds of historical research by the Odessa Regional Administration Department of Religious Affairs, as well as the testimony of the oldest Reformed workers in Ukraine, the Odessa Primorsky Regional Court made a decision on July 22, 1998, to recognize the rights of the present Odessa church as the legal successor of the Evangelical Reformed Church that had existed in Odessa since the city’s founding. On this basis, and in accordance with Law #125 entitled 'Regarding measures to return cultic property to religious organizations', Point 3 (issued by the President of Ukraine on March 4, 1992), the Odessa Malinovsky Regional Court took the decision to recognize the rights of ownership for the Reformed church building on Pastera Street as belonging to the Odessa Evangelical Reformed Presbyterian religious community.

Since that time, the above-mentioned Church has restored the building that was in decay, with the help of many donors. For five years, beginning in 1999, the Church raised funds and carried out a full restoration to save this masterpiece of architecture. The work cost more than five million five hundred thousand (5.500.000) Grivna.

The Church also installed a pipe organ which is considered to be the best in the south of Ukraine. It has been their regular practice to offer free concerts of sacred and classic music with the participation of Ukrainian and foreign musicians.

The Church has sponsored many projects of charity for the various strata of Odessa’s population, for which the Church has received many sincere letters of thanks.  The Church serves meals on a daily basis to fifty elderly people, the majority of whom are theater retirees and members of the Theater Guild.  The Church runs “The Ark” Rehab Center for drug-addicts and alcoholics. The TULIP Publishing House and a number of other ministries function there.

Today, nine years later, without giving the Church any notice, a court process was begun to cancel the property rights of the Evangelical Reformed Presbyterian Church of Odessa to their building located on Pastera Street 62 in Odessa. A complaint and request for alienation was filed before the court by Anatoly Ivanovich Duda, chairman of the National Union of the Theater Guild in Odessa.  The Judge who accepted this application was Hon. Oleg Anatolievich Mikhailyuk of the Malinovsky District Court of Odessa, who did not notify the Church in the four months since this case was opened. He has already held three trial hearings without summoning the Church to participate in the trial, and there are no legal grounds to justify the Theater Guild’s claim.  The only ‘evidence’ which A.I.Duda submits in their favor is a certification that the Reformed Church was not mentioned in the Odessa governor’s calendar directory, dated September 00, 1917, #000 (this is not a misprint, nor a joke, but an exact copy of the way Mr. Duda presented his ‘evidence’ with the help of zeros).  Further on, Mr. Duda draws his "conclusion" – suggesting that the building of the Reformed Church had been ceded to a third party.  No documents were submitted by the Theater Guild to substantiate this.  Thus, this has nothing to do with facts, but with imagination. The judge has been considering this nonsense at several hearings since October 2006, without any representative of the Church in attendance.  These same trial documents, however, include an official document from the State Archive of July 29, 1998,  #464/June/02, stating clearly that the church building was closed during Soviet times, based on Church documents from 1926. 

It is worth mentioning that even prior to this official complaint, attempts had been made to pressure the court, with the help of various influential Ukrainian politicians such as Les Tanyuk from the Ukrainian Parliament and high-ranking functionaries of the National Union of the Theater Guild, with the goal of stealing the church’s property.

Today, now that the Church has invested enormous financial, mental, and physical efforts, the Odessa branch of the National Union of the Theater Guild is utilizing the aid of their protectors in an attempt to overthrow the legal decisions of the courts and to appropriate this building which was built in 1896 for the special purpose of being a Church. All of this flies in the face of Ukraine’s law entitled “Regarding freedom of conscience and religious organizations,” other Presidential decrees, and the elementary notions of restoring historical and moral justice.

God’s appeal to the judges of the earth was this: "Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly” (Leviticus 19: 15).

It is no secret that the principles of justice are more and more frequently being violated in our legal system and that decisions are often taken which have nothing to do with the law.

But if such things can take place in connection with a public, religious organization, what can be said for the simple, individual citizens who sometimes stand totally helpless in the face of legal despotism.  Wise politics in a Democratic society will abide by the principles of justice and law; otherwise, society slides into chaos and immorality.  But the Supreme Judge Who is above all says that no evil remains unpunished: "The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, and by their own standards I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 7:27).

We appeal to all people of good will, as well as to organizations who defend human rights, with the request that you help defend the Church from illegal actions and do everything possible not to allow them to cancel the ownership of a Christian church before the Ukrainian society and the international public.

We do recognize the importance of such social organizations as the National Union of the Theater Guild.  We are sure that the regular members of the Theatrical Guild cannot bear the responsibility for the actions of some of its individual representatives. We are requesting the city authorities to find premises for this organization, so they can carry on their basic activities. At present, the National Union of the Theater Guild continues to occupy 312 cubic meters of the church's space.

The Lord commanded us to address the authorities when there is injustice.  We trust that the authorities of today are ones who are open to the people’s needs and to His sacred Church.

May the Lord bless you!

Bishop Broneslav (Bernatsky),
Ordinary of the Odessa and Simferopol Eparchy of Roman Catholic Churches

Bishop Basil (Ivasyuk),
Exarch of the Odessa and Crimean Exarchate of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Churches

Bishop, Dr. George Gyunch,
German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine

A.I.Teslenko,
Bishop of the Independent Union of Evangelical Christian Baptists of Southern Ukraine

Father Vladimir,
Secretary, Odessa and Balta Eparchy of the Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church

A.V.Bakala,
Senior Presbyter of Odessa Regional Administration, Ukrainian Christian Evangelical Churches

B.V.Zilkovsky,
Senior Presbyter, Evangelical Christian Baptists of the Odessa Region

S.N.Kruchenyuk
Senior Presbyter, Christian Faith Christians of the Odessa Region

V.N.Kashtalyan
Senior Presbyter, Seventh-Day Adventist Churches of the Odessa Region

Academician R.A.Kryzhanovsky,
Rector, Christian Humanitarian Economic University

V.P.Babynin,
Senior Pastor and Chairman of the Union of Reformed Evangelical Churches of Ukraine