Get the keys!

Litigation continues over St. Nicholas Cathedral, which was transferred this summer for the indefinite and free use of the Moscow Patriarchate, Interfax-Religion reports. Russia appealed to the court in Nice demanding that measures be taken to allow it to take possession of the cathedral.

As the French newspaper Nice-Matin writes, the matter is to oblige the parish association of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which uses the temple, to provide access to the building to representatives of Russia and hand over to them a complete set of keys to the cathedral.

In case of refusal to voluntarily leave the cathedral, Russia asks that a decision be made to evict the association with a penalty of 10 thousand euros per day for late payment.

A hearing of the case took place recently in the highest court of Nice. Parish association lawyer Marie-Nina Valli asked for more time to prepare a defence. The court granted the request, and the case will be considered today, October 27.

On May 19, French justice confirmed Russia's ownership of the temple in Nice. The Russian state decided to transfer the temple for free and indefinite use to the Korsun diocese of the Moscow Patriarchate, presenting three demands to St. Nicholas parish: hand over the keys, hand over documentation and stop charging entrance fees to tourists. However, the parish association, which is the legal entity of the parish, believes the court's decision does not deprive it of the right to legally use the cathedral, as it has done for 80 years. According to French law, the “acceptance of the keys” by the Russian state, the owner of the building, would be equivalent to the eviction of the current parish community from the church. The issue of using the temple should be discussed within the framework of the Orthodox canonical tradition, according to the Council of the Exarchate of Russian Parishes in Western Europe (Patriarchate of Constantinople).

The parish association does not intend to leave the cathedral, but it nevertheless had to stop charging visitors for entry and therefore fired all staff members involved in receiving visitors and maintaining the temple. Now they have nothing to pay, so the cathedral is closed to visitors outside the hours when services are held.

The Korsun diocese of the Moscow Patriarchate, in turn , declares that all issues of a canonical nature will be resolved by the Korsun bishop and the head of the Exarchate of Russian Churches of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and expresses the hope that “they will be resolved in the spirit of peace and mutual understanding.”

However, pressure on the Nice parish continues, and apart from the demand to “hand over the keys,” the Exarchate has not heard anything.

NEW : According to the local newspaper Nis-Matin, on Thursday, October 27, a hearing in the case of St. Nicholas Cathedral took place in a Nice court.
Ms Valli, the lawyer for the parish association, referred to the judge's lack of power to resolve the issue by force: “The court order of 19 May 2011 was made in relation to the ownership of the Russian cathedral, it did not concern the right to use it or evict anyone no matter what."
For his part, Mr. Confino, a lawyer for the Russian Federation, stated that ownership of the cathedral implies “vacation of space,” which means “real use of the thing.”
The dispute then turned to the question of the state of the cathedral. Is the cathedral in danger? Yes, says Russia. No, says the parish association.
The decision was postponed until Monday.