Culture Ministry commission unable to enter first church at Kyiv monastery: it is closed

A commission of the Ministry of Culture which is supposed to be transferring property of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra to the state, and was to have started the process of inspecting items at the shrine on 30 March, could not get into the first building because it was closed.

Source: Suspilne, citing Mariana Tomin, a representative of the commission and Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture

Quote from Tomin: "We arrived with the commission and were supposed to go to building 111 and start the inspection. Since people are praying and singing, for reasons that are as yet unknown, which we will now establish, the building is closed; that is, the church is closed. So now we will record all these things and continue our work."

Details: Tomin said the commission consists of 15 people, including three from the UOC-MP Lavra monastery. Representatives of the church had been warned about the inspection.

The commission now plans to contact law enforcement agencies regarding the obstruction of its work.

They want to find out why the building was closed. Tomin also urged the monastery's members to allow the commission to do everything required by the law and within the limits of its authority.

The Ministry of Culture representative said the commission should be working at the Lavra for a total of three months.

For reference: The Ministry of Culture commission is to conduct an inventory of 79 items that were transferred to the monastery for use free of charge in 2013. They are to be inspected and a deed of transfer and acceptance is to be drawn up.

Previously: Despite having been requested to leave the shrine on 29 March, representatives of the UOC-MP still remained in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra as of the morning of 30 March and even held a service in one of the churches.

The Ministry of Culture commission which was supposed to conduct an inventory of the property of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve was refused entry to the monastery by UOC-MP parishioners. They were encouraged to do so by the monastery’s Abbot Pavlo himself.

He also threatened to beat journalists with a stick.

Background: 

• In March 2023, the National Reserve Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra terminated the agreement with the UOC-MP on the free use of the monastery in Kyiv. The monks were supposed to leave the monastery and all its buildings on 29 March.
• The priests of the UOC-MP should have left the monastery on 29 March after holding their last service there.
• But the Lavra’s abbot, Metropolitan Pavlo, said he did not intend to do that and filed a lawsuit against the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve.
• He also openly threatened Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and said Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko was "possessed by an unclean spirit".
• On the evening of 29 March, the UOC-MP website reported that the Kyiv Commercial Court had opened proceedings in a case brought by the Holy Dormition Monastery against the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve over the termination of the lease agreement by the National Reserve.
• Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, gave assurances that UOC-MP clergy would not be evicted from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra by force.

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