St. Nicholas Cathedral is the second oldest Latin rite church in Kiev, after St. Alexander’s Co-Cathedral.
Newsdesk (October 2, 2021 3:45 PM, Gaudium Press) A fire has caused serious damage to the Catholic Cathedral of St. Nicholas, located in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. The fire, which started during a musical rehearsal, destroyed the temple’s iconic organ, charred its interior and brought down a chandelier. According to the Kyiv Post, police authorities are still investigating the causes of the fire.
Because of the incident, the Oblate Missionary Priests of Mary Immaculate are celebrating daily Holy Masses for the parish community outside the temple at an outdoor altar. However, with summer coming to an end, it is getting colder and colder for the faithful to follow the celebrations outside the cathedral.
Second oldest Latin Rite church in Kiev
St. Nicholas Cathedral is the second oldest Latin Rite church in Kiev, after St. Alexander’s Co-Cathedral. Consecrated in 1909, the church served the Catholic faithful as a place of prayer and worship until the year 1938, when it was closed by the Communists after being taken over by the Soviet government.
The building was then converted by the Communists as the headquarters of the Soviet Union’s interior ministry. In the 1980s, the altar was removed by Soviet authorities, who installed a large organ and converted the place into a concert hall.
Authorities refuse to return the temple to the Catholic Church
Even after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and Ukraine’s independence, the cathedral has still not been handed over to the Catholic Church, and is overseen by the local municipality’s culture department, which has argued that the temple cannot be returned because the organ is too large and would have no other place to put it.
To celebrate mass and other religious services there, the Catholics have to rent it, as it remains a concert hall. Despite the numerous requests made by Catholics for the church to be returned, the government and the Ministry of Culture completely ignore them. The faithful believe that the authorities intend to restore the building by turning it into a concert hall. (EPC)