The governor of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra announced the suspicion from the SBU

The abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) Pavel said that he was suspected of inciting hatred on the basis of religion. Metropolitan’s Appeal published in the Telegram channel of the Strana.ua publication.

The governor of the Lavra said that on the morning of April 1 he received a suspicion from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). According to him, searches will be held in his house on April 2.

“Brothers and sisters, today at 7:30 I was handed a suspicion <...> Tomorrow there will be searches in my house,” he said.

The metropolitan specified that the authorities accused him of inciting hatred on the basis of religion, and added that he would not interfere with law enforcement officers.

On March 10, the leadership of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve ordered the representatives of the UOC to leave the territory and buildings of the Lavra until March 29 due to the termination of the contract. At the same time, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine stated that the monks of the UOC could remain in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra if they transferred to the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). After that, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ called the situation around the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra a flagrant violation of the rights and freedoms of believers in Ukraine and compared the ultimatum with “persecution of faith in times of godlessness.”

On March 23, ministers of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra filed a lawsuit with a Ukrainian court to challenge the termination of the lease agreement. According to the lawyer of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Archpriest Nikita Chekman, the clergy have repeatedly appealed to the Ukrainian authorities to find out the results of the activities of the interdepartmental working group, which allegedly revealed violations by the monastery of the terms of the agreement.

Court rejected the claim of the UOC to invalidate the termination of the lease agreement, said the Minister of Culture of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko. The UOC then clarified that the court rejected the request of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church so that during the consideration of the case “no illegal actions were committed against the monastery,” but he did not refuse to satisfy the claim itself in the case of renting the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

Pope Francis has previously expressed concern about the eviction of monks from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and urged stakeholders to respect the places of religious worship.