A new offensive is being prepared for the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra

It will be headed by a former “atomic worker” from Zaporozhye

The bright Easter week in Ukraine is still passing without scuffles and watering Orthodox believers from police water cannons. The people celebrate Easter, even if at times they hang their heads on their shoulders because of the frantic propaganda against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

President Volodymyr Zelensky recorded a televised address to the Ukrainian Orthodox on the occasion of Easter ahead of time on the territory of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. However, from the first shots it became clear that the head of state did not dare to venture into the Lower Lavra, where the prayer standing of the faithful of the UOC continued for two and a half weeks. For shooting, they chose the Upper Lavra, two of whose historical temples – the Assumption Cathedral and the Refectory Church – are now used by the OCU. True, irregularly – only on major holidays. On weekdays, the schismatic Orthodox Church does not have the opportunity to gather extras…

The Ukrainian authorities discussed the possibility of taking the Lower Lavra from the UOC by completely cutting off the supply of Dnieper water there, coupled with a blackout: the monks remaining in their cells, they say, will howl from such discomfort and run together. The matter did not move beyond verbal threats. Because there is no reason to stop the supply of electricity and water. The monastery transfers the necessary funds to the accounts of “Kyivvodokanal” and “Kivenergo” exactly at the appointed time.

“The impression is that Zelensky is only imitating the eviction of the UOC from the Lavra,” said Ukrainian politician Taras Chornovil on Monday, April 17. They say that the president’s team still has a glimmer of hope for the recruitment of Metropolitan Onufry and for the resubordination of the UOC to the Office of the head of state.

Overt pressure on the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and one of the key sponsors of the UOC, oligarch Vadim Novinsky, on the eve of Easter, was expressed in an extremely unfriendly decision of the authorities to confiscate the assets of a businessman. “No SBU provocations, no dark forces can overshadow our bright Easter joy of the triumph of life, truth and love!” Novinsky reacted to the arrest of dozens of his gas wells and companies.

The blow to the property of the billionaire, without any doubt, was timed to coincide with the traditional delivery of the Holy Fire from Jerusalem by Novinsky directly to the Pechersk Lavra. This year, due to the closure of the international airport “Borispol” and the airspace of Ukraine in general, the route for delivering fire has become more complicated. From the Holy Land, he was first transferred by charter flight to the airport of the Romanian city of Satu Mare, from there they were taken by car to the customs post “Dyakovo” on the border of Ukraine and Romania. No matter how hard the inspectors of the customs post tried to simplify the implementation of procedures, a piece of the Holy Fire did not reach Metropolitan Onuphry until 2 am on Sunday.

Formally, Ukraine was represented in Jerusalem by the Volyn Brotherhood of St. Volodymyr the Great… The absence of representatives of the OCU at the ceremony of the descent of the Holy Fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher broadcast to the whole world was explained by official Kiev not by a refusal to issue accreditation to the envoys of Metropolitan Epiphanius, but by … a lack of funds.

Not having time to clean up the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra from “pro-Moscow priests” before Easter, Zelensky and his Servant of the People party continue the persecution of Russian Orthodoxy, but in a different form. A Rada deputy from Servants of the People is pushing for a law to abolish the celebration of Christmas and the Holy Trinity. These fixed dates will again try to make weekdays.

The Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko, who initiated the eviction of the monks of the UOC from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, decided to appoint Maxim Ostapenko, the former head of the military administration in Zaporozhye, as the acting director general of the National Cultural Reserve. Ostapenko is called upon to give a second wind to the forced eviction from the Lavra of all who are still loyal to the UOC.

It is not clear what methods the authorities and the Kyiv security forces will use. On the other hand, the following Kyiv monasteries have been identified, from where the “pro-Moscow believers” are soon going to be expelled: the Voznesensky Florovsky Convent and the Pokrovsky Convent. The motivation is standard: supposedly in this way “information propaganda by representatives of the UOC” is prevented