Day “H” of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra: the monks take away everything they can
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According to the authorities of Ukraine, churchmen should leave all property to the state
Only a day remained at the disposal of the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra to make the final choice regarding their future place of residence. According to the monastery’s abbot, Metropolitan Pavel, none of the clergy intends to put pressure on any of them. Whoever wants to, will stay and wait for his fate, the rest can move to other Ukrainian monasteries. Fortunately, some have already announced their readiness to shelter the exiles. Including monks are ready to accept in the Crimea.
The Kiev Theological Academy and the Seminary, located on the territory of the Lower Lavra, went on an “indefinite vacation”. The people who studied in them have already taken out private property – some to rented housing in Kyiv, and some to a monastery in Western Ukraine. I deliberately do not call these monasteries the UOC, since group raids on evacuees inspired by nationalists are more than real.
The Ukrainian-language segment of social networks is full of stupid jokes and hooting after the clergy and monks leaving the Lavra. Like, they take out tables and chairs with them …
At the same time, opponents of the UOC do not mention a well-known fact: at the time of the return of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra to the Ukrainian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the late 80s of the last century, in the historical and cultural reserve, from the current priceless collection of relics, one could only contemplate the relics of the Caves saints. Giving the Lavra churches a “proper appearance” we owe exclusively to the believers of the Russian Orthodox Church. Donated to the Pechersk Lavra precious cult objects that miraculously survived during the years of severe anti-church persecution. Some of the ancient icons, by the way, came to the Lavra from the territory of the RSFSR, from “ordinary Orthodox”, and also with the blessing of the then high spiritual ranks of the Russian Orthodox Church.
When they realized at the top that the faithful UOC clergy who inhabited it had the right to take literally everything out of the Lavra, and on legal grounds, the authorities began to exhort through the mouths of the “most famous religious scholars”: leave at least something, show generosity.
Another ticklish moment is the further fate of the icons and other rarities given to the Lavra as gifts from contemporary politicians in Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, Romania, Moldova, Belarus, other Orthodox countries, and big businessmen of various origins. The interdepartmental commission has already encountered a mass of such “unformed” gifts. Will they go to the Kiev-Pechersk National Cultural Reserve or will they be taken out of the monastery by the leadership of the UOC? According to Ukrainian legislation, the state generally does not have the right to pocket them if the items have appropriate donation agreements, which indicate the approximate cost of the icon.
If, nevertheless, we discard the material and focus on the highly spiritual, the center of Russian Orthodoxy, which has long been considered the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, after the exodus of priests and monks of the UOC, by definition, cannot be empty. As the official authorities of Ukraine promise, Serbs, Romanians, Moldavians, Bulgarians, and Greeks can freely move into it. That is, representatives of any of the Orthodox denominations of Europe. But will they want to, having become witnesses of what is happening with the UOC in Ukraine?
Newspaper headline:
Exodus from the Lavra
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