Photo credit: Kiev Pechersk Lavra / i.Parfeniy / commons.wikimedia.org (Public domain)
Kyiv gave three days to the monks of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) to leave the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, RIA Novosti reports. According to the Minister of Culture of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko, the commission of the ministry completed its work, and following its results, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra reserve demanded that the monks stop using the property of the reserve and return it "immediately".
If the monks refuse to comply with the authorities' demands, legal action may be taken against them. Volodymyr Legoyda, head of the synodal department of the Moscow Patriarchate for relations between the church, society and the media, has no doubt that the court decision's won't be fair, since the Ukrainian court can no longer be called impartial or independent.
In the spring, the authorities decided to unilaterally terminate the lease agreement for the monastery's facilities. The abbot of the Lavra, Metropolitan of the UOC Pavel, said that President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky is to blame for the situation that had developed around the UOC and the holy monastery.
Russkiy Mir
