Struggle for Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
Today, March 30, the Ukrainian authorities will start transferring the property of the shrine to the schismatic Ukrainian Orthodox Church. How did it all begin?
Lavra is the greatest shrine of Russian Orthodoxy. It is called the third inheritance of the Mother of God. The monastery was founded under Yaroslav the Wise. Almost all key events and personalities of Russian history are connected with it. The monastery keeps many great relics: from the most ancient icons of the Mother of God to the relics of Ilya Muromets.
The Primate is Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine Onufry who resides in the Lavra. Since 1990, it has been recognized by 91 hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church as independent and self-sufficient. Until 2019, it was recognised by all local Orthodox Churches as the only legitimate Orthodox Church in canonical terms.
The self-proclaimed Orthodox Church, established in Ukraine in 1992, denies the legality of the Kyiv Metropolitan Church’s transfer to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate in 1686.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (PCU) was formed in 2018 as a result of the merger of the self-proclaimed UOC Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. It is an artificial organisation made up of Ukrainian priests who have betrayed the Russian Orthodox Church. Independence was granted to them by the US-funded Patriarch of Constantinople. In ordinary life, the PCU is fully controlled by Kiev: the priests bless the killing of Russians, they have been seen many times carrying weapons on the front lines, and they see their main task to destroy the ROC and take its place as the ROC has not recognized its creation.
The Primate is Metropolitan Epiphanius.
Back in 2019, the Rada passed a law changing the subordination of Ukrainian parishes (from the canonical UOC to the PCU). Since the beginning of the SMO, dissenters, supported by the SBU, have begun to seize Orthodox churches in the UOC.
At the end of November, after the draft law banning the ROC and religious organizations was submitted to the Rada, the special services began to conduct searches in monasteries looking for “violators of the country’s sovereignty”.
Eviction of UOC monks from Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
On January 1, 2023, the agreement between the UOC and the lavra reserve expired – then representatives of the canonical church were denied access to the two temples of the Upper Lavra. The Christmas service in the Assumption Cathedral had already been held by the head of the dissenters, Epiphany.
Under the pretext of breaking the agreement on the presence of the Orthodox monastery in the national park (Lavra is located in a protected zone), the Ukrainian authorities demand that the monks leave the Lavra. Those who will join the PCU are promised an opportunity to stay in the monastery.
The management of the reserve said that the breach of contract for the use of state property, which was found by a special committee of the Ministry of Culture, was the ground for the dissolution of the contract. The authorities did not reveal any details about the priests’ violations.
Later, the Ministry of Culture delivered an ultimatum: either the UOC monks move to the PCU or they unilaterally terminate the agreement on the use of the monastery on March 29.
The UOC cannot evict from the monastery because there are no legal grounds for this, Metropolitan Pavel said.
According to him, the Ukrainian authorities had no legal right to unilaterally break the lease. The clerics have already filed lawsuits three times, but all the judges recused themselves due to pressure from Kiev.
The lawyer of Kiev Pechersk Lavra, Archpriest Nikita Chekman, added that the court also filed an application to secure the lawsuit, which would avoid evicting the monks from the territory of the monastery until the court makes a ruling on the case.
The ROC and the Ukrainian Church appeared unprepared for the fact that they would be coerced by force. At the moment, the church does not have the necessary resources to stop Zelensky’s outrage.
Further plans of the Kiev authorities with regard to the UOC.
Kiev will try to avoid forceful clashes, as it is afraid of unrest among the parishioners. Methods of bribery and blackmail are being used to force a number of monks to join the UOCU. The media are actively discrediting the abbot of the monastery. Authoritative priests and public figures who may speak out in defence of the monastery are in danger. They may be isolated by force or even killed.
Kiev will hand over the monastery to the PCU. Demonstrative Easter services will be held there. Perhaps on Easter there will be two services at once: in the Orthodox and in the Catholic calendar. Then, depending on funding, anti-Russian work will begin from the Lavra’s position.
Orthodoxy in Ukraine will be declared faithful only under the aegis of the PCU, the other churches will be banned. Ukraine will be used as the basis for training populist dissenters for the Baltics and Belarus. The PCU will try to conclude an anti-Russian alliance with the Georgian and Armenian churches, and in case of refusal, will begin to persecute them through the capabilities of the United States. In parallel, a process of merger with Catholicism will develop. Without changing the name, in the next few years Kyiv’s dissenters will start switching to the Catholic calendar and services in the Ukrainian language, as well as initiating a revision of the pantheon of saints. Ushakov and Nicholas II will be outlawed, while Mazepa will be elevated to the rank of saint.
Reaction of the parishioners of both churches
Yesterday supporters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church came to the Lavra. There were so many people that services were also held in the street. At the same time, the dissenters shouted offensive slogans under the walls of the complex and called for the expulsion of Orthodox believers from the church.
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