Putting churches on sale is something the Russian Orthodox Church cannot approve of anywhere and under any circumstances, said Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, Secretary for Inter-Orthodox relations of the Department for External Church Relations, in an interview with the RIA Novosti information agency.

Several days ago, Garo Paylan, deputy of the Turkish parliament and member of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, condemned the attempted sale of two Orthodox church buildings — a Greek Orthodox church in Bursa and a Syrian Orthodox church in Mardine. He urged the Turkish Minister of culture and tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, to intervene in the situation.

“Of course, the Russian Church will never approve of the auctioning of a Christian church anywhere. With regard to this particular situation in Turkey, it requires additional study. We do not have sufficiently detailed and objective information about this case as yet,” Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk told RIA Novosti.

In 2020, priests of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated Orthodox Christmas services in the Turkish cities of Bursa, Antalya, and Izmir. However, traditionally, it is the Patriarchate of Constantinople that attends to the needs of the Orthodox Christian community in Turkey.

In Russia, in 2020, the Church of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica, in the village of Zavalovo in the Tula Region, was put up for sale through an ad service. The church was an architectural monument of regional significance, built in the 19th century. This attempted sale caused a public outcry. After the intervention of church and public figures, the temple was bought by a sponsor, and then was given over to the Russian Orthodox Church.