Ukrainian authorities force the eviction of the “pro-Moscow public” from the Lavra

Hundreds of adherents of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church continue an indefinite protest against the discrediting of the UOC, started by President Volodymyr Zelensky. Each of the believers realizes: if, under the pressure of the “wicked” in unique buildings with a long history, at least for a short time, dubious people who are very far from the Christian Faith are “launched”, an uncontrolled process of weaning and dividing movable and immovable property belonging to the UOC will instantly begin in the entire post-Soviet republic . It is this, and not the ephemeral “spiritual goals”, that actually attracts the motley crowd of different ages with red-black flags of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army banned on the territory of the Russian Federation, which is increasingly leaking into the territory of the ancient ancient Russian monastery.

– It is difficult for me to understand for what purpose they (the defenders of the Pechersk Lavra – auth.) persist, do not go home for the fourth day in a row, – Nikita Poturaev, a member of the Servant of the People faction, comments on the prayer standing with a smug expression on his face. The 52-year-old head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy is a co-author of a bill on a complete ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the territory of the republic. – Maybe they are waiting for the “Moskalnya” to come and remove our President Zelensky? Then pass them on to the puppeteers: the Russian army cannot take little Bakhmut for half a year – what kind of Kyiv is there?!

On Sunday, dozens of buses with parishioners of the UOC left from different cities of Ukraine to help the “besieged” Lower Lavra.

The Ukrainian security forces, having received some information from their operational sources inside the provincial church parishes, decided to play ahead of the curve. They are seriously afraid of mass suicide of Orthodox believers, who had previously promised acts of self-immolation in the event of the closure of male or female monasteries. In order to minimize the risk of implementing actions that are extremely undesirable for the authorities (a wave of indignation at Zelensky’s actions, they think, may negatively affect the supply of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, and this will inevitably lead to a quick defeat of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the Donbass fronts), the Office of the head of state did not hesitate to for the second time in recent days to rudely interfere in the work of the judiciary. For the first time, from Bankova Street, they called the chairman of the Economic Court of the city of Kyiv – and he ordered to immediately refuse to secure the claim of the UOC regarding the suspension of the process of eviction of priests and monks from the Lavra. Although at first he took the lawsuit into proceedings and even approved the date of the first hearing in the case – April 26.

Yesterday, the notorious “telephone law” worked in the Shevchenkovsky District Court of Kiev, where the investigating judge Vadim Kovtunenko, due to a sharp deterioration in the health of the rector of the Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel, postponed the meeting on choosing a measure of restraint for the accused to Monday. Justifying the petition of his defense, the clergyman reminded the court and prosecutors: in 2012, they tried to poison him with mercury and arsenic, the situation was so serious that Kyiv surgeons removed the spleen from the Metropolitan. Two years later, according to Pavel (in the world of Peter Lebed), ill-wishers used some kind of biological weapon. The governor of the Lavra was taken by special plane to an Austrian clinic; only local experts were able to accurately recognize the deadly poison and inject the shepherd with the necessary antidote…

And this seriously ill person, who was allowed to go home before 9 am on April 3, was ordered by the same Shevchenko court to be forcibly returned to the courtroom in the evening!

Metropolitan Pavel, who received 2 months of house arrest, was put on an electronic bracelet on his right leg right in court and sent to his place of permanent residence in the village of Voronki, in the Borispol region. So that the rector of the Lavra could not contact his flock all this time, protesting against the rude willfulness of the president and government in the center of Kyiv.

In the pro-government media, Metropolitan Pavel is now ordered to be called “the former abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra” (although no one in the UOC deprived him of a high church hierarchy post). Archimandrite Avraamy (Lotysh), until recently one of the clergy closest to Pavel, the sacristy of the monastery, is now called the acting governor. Abraham expressed a desire to go to the “competing” OCU, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, for which, 2 hours after the announcement of his decision, he was banned from serving by the Primate of the UOC, Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine.

According to the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from the European Solidarity faction Nikolai Knyazhitsky, among the monks there are still a number of potential “apostates” who are also thinking about moving to the OCU. One of them previously studied at the same university course as Knyazhitsky, he openly opposes the NVO of the Russian army in Ukraine, publishes “patriotic” poems on social networks.

Deputy of the Rada of several previous convocations, Taras Chornovil, is convinced that if Metropolitan Pavel did not burst out with curses against Volodymyr Zelensky and his family members, the conflict around the Upper Lavra had a chance to “dissolve” safely. Now the clergyman can also be charged with direct threats against the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in wartime conditions. So far, according to the SBU, the metropolitan “justifies the aggression of the Russian Federation” and “incites inter-religious hatred.”

Prior to this, the Ukrainian authorities, according to Chornovil’s observations, behaved emphatically correctly with the protesting Orthodox believers. For example, in the scene of the expulsion from the gates of the monastery of a special commission of the Ministry of Culture, the police officers on duty in the Lavra did not even think to take the side of the officials who came. Although by law they were obliged to provide the latter with physical protection, while they carried out the order of their leadership. The National Police adhered to the same line of conduct during the second attempt by the employees of the Ministry of Culture to conduct an inventory of the monastic property transferred to the state.

According to Taras Chornovil, the Cabinet of Ministers has plenty of grounds for early termination of the agreement on the perpetual and free lease of the Lower and Upper Lavra (Assumption Cathedral and the Refectory Church). To date, 39 (thirty-nine) facts have been documented of a cardinal restructuring in the Lower Lavra, not agreed with the leadership of the National Cultural Reserve “Kiev-Pechersk Lavra”, the appearance of small architectural forms, where they sell jewelry, a variety of metal and wooden crafts for the gospel plots, tours to holy places (including those located on the territory of the Russian Federation) and so on. Even a single case of unauthorized construction on reserved land is a reason for early termination of business relations with the state …

Another curious detail: during the presidency of Leonid Kuchma (1994-2002), a government phone was installed in the office of the Lavra’s vicegerent, Metropolitan Pavel. Until recently, other bishops of the UOC enjoyed the same privilege: they could easily contact the governor of the region where they carried out pastoral service and express their opinion to the VIP official on any occasion.

The fact that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is now a “stepdaughter”, and not a “beloved daughter” of the state, was evidenced by the recent attempt by a group of metropolitans and bishops of the UOC to “break through” to a personal reception with Volodymyr Zelensky. Those who walked from the Lower Lavra to Bankovaya Street were not allowed into the building of the Office of Public Administration, they said, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief is now very busy with ensuring the security of the Motherland in the face of “armed aggression”, and, in fact, “you are not scheduled for today “…

The hierarchs of the UOC did not want to communicate with clerks from the Office of the President of Ukraine. Perhaps they wanted to convey some important information personally to Vladimir Aleksandrovich, and not to his “sixes”.

… Mindful of the reasons why the top leadership of Ukraine mercilessly “presses” Metropolitan Pavel, the acting rector of the Lavra, Archimandrite Abraham, in a video message distributed yesterday “with feeling” assured the Ukrainians: he and all the brethren of the monastery tirelessly pray for the health of Volodymyr Zelensky . The open servility of the newly converted clergyman of the OCU provoked sarcastic remarks from his compatriots watching the situation at the very beginning of Lavrskaya Street.