12.06.2008, [11:10] // Inter-Christian relations // RISU.ORG.UA
Stryi—On 16 June 2008, a cross is to be consecrated in the village of Verkhnia Stynava in the Stryi district on the construction site a future UGCC church. Some see this as a step towards settling inter-confessional misunderstandings that have lasted for the past eighteen years; the logical extension of Greek Catholics defending their right to pray in a church to which they were denied access by the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church community. So reported zaxid.net.
According to the coadjutor of the Stryi Eparchy, Fr. Taras Poshyvak, the construction of the church for the Greek Catholic community was discussed at the eparchial department of the Stryi Eparchy with representatives of the Stryi District Administration and the UGCC community of Verkhnia Stynava.
The conflict began in 1990, when the UGCC emerged from the underground and the Orthodox community did not agree to share the church, alternating service days. Because the Orthodox community was in the majority, they continued to use the church built by Greek Catholics according to historical documents while UGCC constituents prayed beside the church.
However, in 1998, Ukraine’s Supreme Court decided that both parties were to share the church. The Orthodox community ignored this decision and the Lviv Regional Council decided to close the church in 1999. Then in October 2004, the Orthodox community seized the church before the Greek Catholics had been let in.