Paul Goble
Staunton, April 13 –Russian Orthodox churches constructed abroad before 1917 belonged to the Russian state, lawyers say, and consequently, as a recent French decision about the Orthodox Cathedral in Nice confirms, the Russian government has every right to reclaim all of them as its state property, a Russian activist in France argues.
Such an expansive reading of the Nice decision suggests that some in Russian church and political circles believe they can increase their efforts to gain control of these churches, efforts that would further weaken independent Russian Orthodox congregations abroad and give Moscow control of some extremely valuable real estate in key cities around the world.
On Wednesday, a French appeals court ruled in favor of the Russian government’s claim that it and not the Orthodox congregation at Nice is the legal owner of the St. Nicholas Cathedral in that southern French city, thus apparently ending a decade of controversy ...