The Supreme Court of Ukraine has seized the Yelets Monastery located in the city of Chernigov from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and transferred it to the management of the Chernigov Ancient Nature Reserve. This was reported by TASS with reference to the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture.
A publication on the website of this institution says: "On January 16, 2025, the Supreme Court of Ukraine, as part of the Cassation Economic Court, dismissed the claim of the administration of the Chernihiv Diocese of the UOC for the right to use the Yelets Monastery of the XII-XVII century <...> The final decision was in favor of the Chernigov Ancient National Architectural and Historical Reserve."
In February 2023, the Chernigov Ancient Nature Reserve announced the expiration of contracts for the use of architectural monuments — the Trinity Monastery with the cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Yelets Monastery, on whose territory the Assumption Cathedral is located, and the Transfiguration Cathedral. The administration of the reserve demanded that the Chernihiv Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church leave the shrines. The diocese, referring to the law "On Freedom of Conscience and religious Organizations," filed lawsuits in which it asked to recognize the agreements as valid.
On October 5, 2023, armed men in camouflage uniforms blocked three cathedrals, preventing representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from entering. Subsequently, representatives of the Ministry of Culture closed these temples under the pretext of the need for restoration.
At the same time, as Natalia Rebrova, the head of the Chernigov Ancient Reserve, recently stated, the relics of Chernigov saints, Saints Theodosius and Filaret, and St. Lawrence, located in the Trinity Cathedral of the city, will remain on the balance of the state as museum relics. She also reported that the institution would continue to use the churches of Chernigov taken from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church not for their intended purpose, but for organizing secular and cultural events in them.