Kiev-Pechersk Lavra: Ministry of Culture gives monks three-day deadline for eviction

The Kiev regime is launching a new attempt to expel the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate from its headquarters, the famous Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Now the monks have been given a three-day eviction period.

The monks of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) have been obliged to leave the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra within three days, Ukrainian Culture Minister Aleksandr Tkachenko said on his Telegram channel.

As a result, the "State Reserve", which administers the special rights of the monastery complex and is subordinate to the Ministry of Culture, has sent a corresponding request to the Church as a result of the work of a ministerial commission.

"Now, after the reserve has served an eviction notice to the UOK MP regarding the immediate eviction, termination of use and return of its property, the latter must comply with the request within three working days from the date of service. In case of refusal, a court will make an appropriate decision," the minister said.

He added that on June 5, a ministerial commission signed an act of acceptance and transfer of ownership. In total, the Commission examined 79 properties. The administrative act was also sent to the representatives of the monastery, but they refused to accept it through the secretariat, after which the reserve sent all documents by mail, as well as electronically.

The new round of the conflict over the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra began when the Ministry of Culture terminated the lease and asked the monks to leave the monastery by March 29. However, Tkachenko said that they could stay if they joined the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (the re-establishment of which took place in 2018).

The UOC stated that the lease could not be terminated unilaterally and that there was no court ruling on this issue. The abbot of the monastery, Metropolitan Pavel (Paul), announced that the brothers would stand firm until the end. The abbot was later placed under house arrest on charges of inciting interreligious strife and supporting Russia's actions. According to him, he was offered to drop all charges if the monks would convert to the non-canonical refoundation.

For two months, the faithful hindered the work of the commission, which in turn often tried to seal the monastery buildings and, if necessary, imprison the monks and faithful in them. As a result, at least four parishioners were detained, as well as human rights activist Viktoria Kochanovskaya. They were all placed under house arrest.

The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (Russian: Kiewo-Pecherskaya Lavra, Ukrainian: Kiewo-Pecherska Lavra) was founded in the 11th century and is one of the most important centers of Russian and East Slavic Orthodoxy and Enlightenment. On the grounds of the monastery are buried the remains of revered saints and famous historical figures.

During the Soviet era, the monastery was closed, but it was reopened for worship in the late Soviet period. Since 1988, it has been de facto owned by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the largest denomination in the country. However, the Ukrainian state has always refused to transfer ownership of the complex back to the Orthodox Church, i.e. the former owner expropriated by the Soviets, so that the use of the complex by the church and monks was always regulated in a lease.

In 1990, UNESCO added the monastery to its list as an important World Heritage Site. Since then, the monastery complex has been reconstructed, rebuilt and maintained, primarily with funds from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its faithful. The largest church in the complex, which was destroyed in the Second World War, was also rebuilt in this way with ecclesiastical funds. Since 1994, Metropolitan Pavel has been the vicar of the Pechersk Lavra.

Since the victory of the nationalist Maidan in February 2014, the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been under massive pressure because of its traditional, albeit recently rather symbolic, affiliation with the Moscow Patriarchate (the UOC has been endowed with extensive self-government since 1990). Since then, two secessions have been openly favored by the new rulers and provided with state funds, for example as part of the introduction of military chaplains. Unhindered, sometimes even with state support, supporters of the secessionists use violence to take possession of churches and displace the traditional communities.

At the end of 2018, under the auspices of then-President Poroshenko, the splits were united into the official "Orthodox Church of Ukraine", which was recognized as "independent" by the Patriarch of Constantinople in 2019. In the universal Orthodox Church, this act is controversial and is sometimes condemned as a non-canonical encroachment on the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarch. Among Ukrainian believers, the new foundation has so far received only limited recognition.

Since 2018, there have been repeated efforts and political initiatives to transfer the monasteries of Ukraine to the newly founded national church. Vladimir Zelensky, who visibly stayed out of the sectarian conflict for the first two years of his term, openly declared his intention to destroy the Ukrainian Orthodox Church after the start of Russia's military intervention in February 2022.

From around the world