Moscow-linked church says Ukrainian Primate does not have permission to hold service in Kyiv monastery

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) has said that Metropolitan Epiphanius, the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), does not have permission to hold a service in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (the Monastery of the Caves) on 7 January, and his intention is an attempt to "forcibly seize the Dormition Cathedral".

Source: Synodal Information and Education Department of the UOC-MP

Quote from the UOC-MP: "According to the museum’s administration [the monastery is also a museum - ed.], permission has not been granted for the service announced by the OCU in the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra."

During a meeting with representatives of the clergy and brethren of the Lavra on 5 January,  Oleksandr Rudnyk, acting director general of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve, said that no request had been received from the OCU with regard to using the Dormition Cathedral and the Refectory Church for worship.

Details: The UOC-MP portal also posted a video from a meeting in which Rudnyk, when asked about Epiphanius’ service, says, "I have not received any official or unofficial request from the OCU. I have not received any instructions about this as of now [the evening of 5 January – ed.]" and crosses himself to emphasise the truthfulness of his words.

The UOC-MP called Epiphanius' intention to hold a church service in the Dormition Cathedral on the territory of the Lavra on 7 January "an attempt to forcibly seize... the cathedral by blackmailing and misleading the public".

The UOC-MP also accused all the media outlets that published a statement from the OCU’s official website of not checking this information, but "filling the information space with the latest fake news from the OCU instead".

Background: On 4 January, the press service of the OCU reported that the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epiphanius, plans to hold a Christmas service on 7 January in the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

Background:

• At the end of December 2022, Metropolitan Pavlo Lebid, the Abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, who has been sanctioned in Ukraine, appealed to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy not to take two churches on the territory of the Lavra away from the UOC-MP.
• The churches in question are the Dormition Cathedral and the Refectory Church. The UOC-MP had leased these churches until 31 December 2022 and wanted to extend the lease, but the Ministry of Culture advised against this.
• On 2 December, the OCU reported that the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra had been registered as a monastery of the OCU. However, Oleksandr Tkachenko, Minister of Culture, explained that there was no question of the Lavra being transferred from the UOC-MP to the OCU.
• On 5 January, Tkachenko announced that the Dormition Cathedral and Refectory Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra had been officially returned to state use. Pavlo Lebid, the UOC-MP Abbot of the Lavra, did not attend the signing of the act of return of religious buildings.

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