Commission of Ministry of Culture of Ukraine starts inspection of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra to register consequences of presence of Russian-linked church

The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine reported that its commission started the inspection of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (Monastery of the Caves).

Source: press service of the Ministry of Culture and Informational Policy of Ukraine

Quote: "The commission of the Ministry of Culture and Informational Policy of Ukraine has started working in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra at last, though not without obstacles."

Details: The commission has compiled a report about the crime of damage or destruction of the cultural heritage objects.

Previously: The UOC-MP has blocked the work of the commission of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy commission for accepting and transferring state property of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

Background:

• On 29 March, the UOC-MP held its last service in the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on the lower grounds of the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves. The UOC-MP clergy were to have left the monastery on 30 March, but they did not wish to do so, and therefore filed a lawsuit against the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve.
• According to Abbot Pavlo (Lebid), he and the UOC-MP clergy have the right to stay and do not plan to leave the monastery until the court case against the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Reserve is over.
• Meanwhile, Avraamii (Lotysh), Archimandrite of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra of the UOC-MP, joined the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) and asked its head, Metropolitan Epiphanius, to approve him as acting abbot of the monastery. Epiphanius agreed, and UOC-MP Metropolitan Onufriy banned Archimandrite Avraamii from serving for going over to the OCU.
• In March 2023, the National Reserve Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra terminated the agreement with the UOC-MP on the free use of the monastery. The monks were supposed to leave the monastery and all its buildings on 29 March. The caves of the monastery have been closed for the duration of the inspection to preserve cultural property.
• Metropolitan Epiphanius of the OCU said that the monastery on the territory of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra would not be closed, and that the language of worship would be Old Church Slavonic along with modern Ukrainian.
• Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, stated that UOC-MP clergy would not be evicted from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra by force.
• The Kyiv Commercial Court has dismissed the lawsuit brought by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) against the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve. Pavlo, the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and Metropolitan of the UOC-MP, had declared that UOC-MP clergy would not leave the territory of the Lavra until the court handed down a judgement.

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