Vladimir Legoyda
The initiative to hold a referendum on the fate of St. Isaac’s Cathedral in Saint Petersburg is a legal nonsense, said RIA Novosti the head of the Synodal Department of the Moscow Patriarchate on relations of the Church with society and mass-media Vladimir Legoyda.
According to him, in this case, in fact, will be considered the feasibility of compliance with the Federal law “On transfer to religious organizations of property of religious appointment”.
He added that in conditions when the Russian Orthodox Church “gave answers to all the constructive concerns” about the prospects for the transfer of the Cathedral, the initiative of holding a referendum is “an attempt to move the issue back to a non-constructive direction.”
Gorizbirkom Petersburg on Tuesday, March 28, approved the registration of the initiative group for holding a referendum on the fate of St. Isaac’s Cathedral. The authors of the petition hope that now the documents on the referendum will consider the city legislature.
Under the bill, the referendum will ask whether he agrees that the monuments of history and culture of Federal significance — the building of St. Isaac’s Cathedral, Peter and Paul Cathedral and Church of our Savior on spilled Blood needs to consolidate on the operational management of public museums.
In January the city agreed to transfer to St. Isaac’s Cathedral to the gratuitous use of the Russian Orthodox Church for 49 years. Governor Georgy Poltavchenko has promised to keep the Museum function of the building. The decision caused the discontent of the citizens. For the first time the St. Petersburg diocese has requested the transfer of Isaac in 2015, but then she refused.