Deputy of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate Pavlo (Pyotr Lebed in the world) recorded a video message to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in connection with the evacuation of the monks from the Lavra. The appeal was published by Strana.ua.
“Mr. President! I tell you and your bag, our tears will not fall on the ground, they will fall on your head. Do you think you can do this when you come to power from our backs? The Lord will not forgive you and your family!” He said metropolitan.
According to him, the president of Ukraine is responsible for the events around the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and “the throwing of 220 brothers on the street”.
“You could not accept the Kyiv Metropolitan Onufry with the Synod. You could not stop the Minister of Culture, who harbors grudges, hatred and hatred, that is, does everything with your permission. Shame on you Fear! – Completed the Metropolitan’s appeal.
According to Strana.ua, believers in the UOC spent the night in the Lavra on March 30, fearing that the monastery would be captured.
Earlier, Metropolitan Pavel stated that many monks have been living in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra since 1988 and that if they are evacuated, they have nowhere to go. He also recalled that the UOC had signed a long-term lease that could not be broken during the war. In this regard, the monks plan to stay in the Lavra until the end of the trial.
“We do not and will not consider moving, because now there are laws that stand by the person,” said the metropolitan.
President answered the objection
Zelensky commented on what was happening around the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, describing it as the protection of society from “Moscow religious manipulation.”
“One more step has been taken to strengthen the spiritual independence of our state, to protect our society from Moscow’s ancient and cynical manipulation of religion. “Ukraine is the region with the greatest freedom of religion in this part of Europe.”
According to Zelensky, this freedom has been felt since 1991 and according to him it will always be so.
Conflict around the Lavra
On 10 March, the National Reserve “Kiev-Pechersk Lavra” announced the termination of the UOC-MP’s indefinite lease with the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and demanded that the monks leave the area by 29 March. Ukrainian authorities have offered monks to convert to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (OCU), which was founded in 2018. The Russian Orthodox Church sees this as schismatic.
Metropolitan Pavel called the actions of the Ukrainian authorities illegal and declared that he refused to leave the monastery. According to him, it is not possible to break the contract unilaterally, a court decision is required for this. Archbishop Nikita Chekman, lawyer of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, announced that a lawsuit has been filed in the Kiev Economic Court that the termination of the lease agreement is inadmissible.
In response, Epiphanius, Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, approved Archimandrite Avraamy for the position of priest in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, and Avraamy appealed to the UOC clergy with a call to join the OCU. Following this, the UOC banned Archimandrite Epiphanius from serving.
As Strana.ua reports, over a thousand believers who were in the Lavra for several hours on March 29 came to support the UOC. At the same time, there were no clashes with the police or forced eviction of the monks that day.
However, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine sent a letter to the Lavra, announcing that a commission would arrive at the monastery on March 30, which will begin accepting state property and demand that the monks evacuate the building and take their personal belongings.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, the departure of the UOC from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra will be a symbol of the complete rupture of religious relations between Kiev and Moscow.
Against the background of the evacuation of monks from the Lavra, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia urged religious leaders and international organizations to “make every possible effort” to prevent the closure of the monastery, which would violate the rights of millions. Ukrainian believers’ right to freedom of religion.”
Location of UOC in Ukraine
At the end of 2022, a conflict broke out between the Moscow Patriarchate UOC clergy and the Ukrainian authorities. In November 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine opened a criminal case for the performance of the song “The ringing floats over Russia” in the Lavra. After that, searches were carried out in the Holy Trinity Koretsky Monastery, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the buildings of the Sarnensko-Polesye diocese and other objects of the UOC, during which researchers reported the discovery of “pro-Russian literature”. to spread the Russian world in church schools and seminaries”.
According to security officials, some people at the UOC facilities presented military ID cards and USSR passports or did not have any original documents with them, only copies. Some showed Ukrainian passports with signs of damage and forged documents.
The territory of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is fully state-owned. It is divided into Upper Lavra and Lower Lavra, which are in free use by the UOC. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church also chartered the main churches in the Upper Lavra – the Assumption Cathedral and the Refectory Church. Their lease expired at the end of 2022 but was not renewed. The priests were supposed to leave the area by the end of March. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who previously suffered autocephaly from Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, lays claim to Lavra temples. The UOC and the Russian Orthodox Church do not recognize its canonical status.
Ukraine’s Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko said in mid-March that authorities did not raise the issue of the evacuation of all monks from the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. According to him, we are talking about the evacuation of some leaders, and the monks “always have a choice”, which means the possibility of transferring to the OCU.
“No one raises the question of the evacuation of the monks, it is about the return of movable and immovable property belonging to the state. It seems to me that if someone at the forefront should leave, these are the leaders who have been illegally building on the territory of the UNESCO site for many years, ”the minister argued.