Ukrainian authorities decided to settle the wounded in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra instead of pilgrims

Believers chased away by armed special forces

The national reserve of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra from 7 am on August 11 banned the passage of believers to the territory of the monastery. In the morning, people could observe an unusual picture at the gates of the Lavra – approaches blocked by iron barriers, along which guards in blue and yellow robes stood in a chain. Behind the fences, police cars lined up in several rows. And inside the monastery there was an armed special forces, which could be identified by their black uniforms and red berets…

After the resignation of the Minister of Culture of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko, who was especially zealous in his desire to take away the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra from the believers of the UOC, it seemed that the situation with the “squeezing out” of the monastery had calmed down. Even the abbot of the monastery, Metropolitan Pavel, was released from custody on bail of $900,000. The money was collected by the whole world, circumventing banking bans on opening accounts to raise funds for collateral.

But when the funds nevertheless arrived, the court was forced to release the elderly rector. Although the charges against him are not dropped. At the same time, the judicial authorities recognized as fair the petition of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Museum-Reserve to evict the monks of the UOC from the walls of the monastery in connection with the termination of the lease agreement. Therefore, in Kyiv they started talking about the “last act” in the performance with the expulsion of the UOC from the walls of the Lavra.

Officially, representatives of the reserve reported that the passage for parishioners to the temples of the Lower Lavra was temporarily blocked. But for how long is not reported. Only priests and residents of the monastery can enter the territory.

The reserve indicated that only the temple in the name of St. Agapit of the Caves and St. Sergei of Radonezh was allowed to be used for worship. The Church of Agapit of Pechersk, consecrated only in 2021, is located in the hospital building of the Lavra outside the defensive wall of the upper territory of the monastery. From the moment the persecution of the Ukrainian authorities began on the monastery and access to the inner churches for the servants of the UOC began to be blocked, the primate of the UOC held his weekly sermons in this particular church.

Pilgrims were blocked in the 58th building of the Lavra. Believers from other regions who lived in a pilgrimage hotel now do not have the opportunity to get into their rooms, but they do not leave the territory of the Lavra. Because there will be no going back.

“The police warned the monks that we should be on the territory of the Lavra, if we leave it, they won’t let us back in. The buildings where the monks live are not blocked yet, but there were a lot of pilgrims from all over Ukraine on the territory of the Lavra, and since yesterday evening they cannot get into the rooms where many have been living for several years,” said one of the clergy.

The Commission of the Ministry of Culture has begun an inventory of property in 30 rooms of the Lower Lavra, which previously belonged to the monastery. According to the deputy director of the reserve Maxim Ostapenko, “there are 79 buildings on the territory of the monastery, but there are only 40 real structures in which you can live or conduct economic activities. At the moment, only 10 rooms are in use of the reserve. to close the territory of the Lavra in order to speed up the process of transferring another 30 premises to the use of the reserve.

The monks are allowed to stay on the territory of the Lavra, but the Ministry of Culture intends to give the hotels in which they and the pilgrims used to live to serve as rehabilitation centers for the military. It turned out to be difficult to transfer the monastery to the needs of the “Bartolomew” OCU – due to the fact that the “parallel” Orthodox Church of Ukraine does not have so many monks to “master” the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Therefore, the wounded will be placed in cells. How comfortable they will be there – the question is not worth it. The issue is ideological.