How the Orthodox Church Is Evicted: “We Are a Forgotten Community”

Como – After more than twenty-five years, the Orthodox church on via Tommaso Grossi has been closed, a point of reference for many Eastern faithful who live and work in the city and province. The “church of the carers” as it was known to most had begun its activity at the end of the 90s, in 2002 it was the mayor Alberto Botta to the Christian Orthodox Church the use of some premises to carry out its rites. The matter continued without problems until the former orphanage was included, already in 2018, in the plan for the alienation of Palazzo Cernezzi by the then mayor Mario Landriscina. The case already ended up at that time at the attention of the city council.

"For a quarter of a century, that church opened by Monsignor Evloghios has represented a spiritual and cultural point of reference - explain the representatives of the Orthodox parish of the Metropolia of Aquileia - Without fanfare, without pretensions. In the meantime, Como has seen the birth of other Orthodox churches: Romanian, Russian, Moldavian. A sign that, at least spiritually, there was room for everyone. Then came 2025, the year of the turning point. The Municipality sent an elegant and formal letter to the Orthodox diocese of Milan asking to vacate the premises. The official reason was the degradation of the property, need to sell, security. The dialogue of the current bishop Monsignor Abbondio with the director of real estate assets was brief. First, evictions were aired with the police, then the community was granted a few more days, just the time of Easter, to empty the premises".

The faithful also turned to Mayor Rapinese , but to no avail. "Requests for help? They have been made. To no avail. The mayor has no time for heartbreaking letters from a forgotten community. The leaders simply point out that "the Municipality is not obliged to give anything". And formally they are right. It's a shame that the Como of today seems to have forgotten the Como of yesterday: the one that, without too many proclamations, had found a space for a small church of Orthodox immigrants, most of them Ukrainians. Today that building has not been sold. It remains there, barred, silent, abandoned".

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