SBU employees gave a notice that a criminal case was opened to Metropolitan Pavel, the governor of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. This was reported by TASS, citing testimony from the Bishop himself.
“A suspicion was given to me at 7:30 today. [обвинение] <…> Now my house will be searched. I am not guilty and I ask for your prayers,” Pavel told the congregation members and journalists standing by the Lavra’s doors, adding that he was placed under “house arrest.”
According to the Metropolitan, when the SBU officers handed the notice to him, he stated that he was accused of “aiding Russia, inciting inter-religious hatred and cursing the president.”
Paul denies the accusations – according to him, “he did not curse anyone, he simply said that our tears of the Bible will not fall to the ground, but will fall on the heads of those who caused these uprisings.”
The SBU confirmed that a criminal complaint had been filed against the cleric. According to the investigation, while the Metropolitan repeatedly offended the feelings of believers in his speeches, he also downplayed the views of believers belonging to other faiths.
It was also alleged that the aggressor country had justified or denied criminal acts, which was confirmed by a forensic linguistics investigation initiated by the SBU.
Ukrainian security forces gathered around the Lavra searched one of the buildings where Pavel lived; Supporters and opponents of the schismatic Ukrainian Orthodox Church (OCU), parishioners of the canonical UOC also came.
The Ukrainian edition of Vesti reported that “the first provocations have already begun near Lavra, the police are separating the protesters.” According to media reports, a supporter of the OCU “caught a monk of the UOC, the fight is over.”
“Both on the one hand and the other, more and more people are gathering within the walls of the Lavra,” the publication added.
Volodymyr Legoyda, head of the synodal department responsible for relations between the church, society and media of the Moscow Patriarchate, described Pavel’s detention as confirmation of the “lawlessness of the Ukrainian authorities”. DEA News.
Later, the Shevchenkovsky Court in Kiev adjourned the hearing on the appointment of a restraining order for Metropolitan Pavel to April 3. The Telegram channel of the Ukrainian edition “Strana.ua” reported that during the court session Pavel announced that he was not feeling well due to the increase in blood sugar. The Metropolitan’s lawyer told the Ukrainian edition Strana.ua that the court ordered his forced arrest on the evening of April 1, but the UOC reported on the Telegram channel that the court postponed the hearing to Saturday.
“The court rescheduled the hearing after announcing it was adjourned until Monday. The meeting will take place at 18:30. The city is currently in the hospital.
expulsion from the Lavra
On March 30, Metropolitan Pavel posted a video message to the authorities on YouTube. He threatened Zelensky with “heavenly punishment” for expelling ministers from the Lavra.
“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!” – said the governor of the Lavra.
On March 10, the directorate of the historical and cultural reserve “Kiev-Pechersk Lavra” announced the end of the indefinite lease of objects from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC-MP) and ordered the monks to leave the area before midnight in March. 30.
The metropolitan called the actions of the directorate illegal, the monks refused to leave the monastery. They also filed a lawsuit demanding that the court challenge the rights of the reserve to the territory of the abbey monastery.
At the same time, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine annulled the government’s 2013 decision on the transfer of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra to the use of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said: monks can stay in the Lavra, provided that they are transferred to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – OCU.
On March 31, Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, described the UOC as “an abscess that needs to be cleaned”. He also stressed that Kiev had a “unique chance” to do so in the first months of the conflict.
“It seems to me that this unique chance that everything could be resolved very quickly and painlessly was in the first 3-6 months of the war. At that time, it was possible to physically “cleanse” many pro-Russians,” Podolyak said in an interview with Channel 24.
According to him, doing such “cleaning” is already much more difficult now, but “that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.”
The counselor stressed that the country’s authorities should “hold this path pretty tight” and that as a result, only one “canonical” church should remain here.
“The UOC will lose all opportunities to influence the inner world of Ukraine. UOC will gradually go to Russian cities and do something there. And in Ukraine there will be only OCU, ”Podolyak concluded.
As Zelensky points out, If the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is transferred to the OCU, it will be “another step towards strengthening the spiritual independence” of Ukraine and a way to protect itself from the “Moscow religious manipulators”.