The UOC-MP claims that they cannot be evicted from the monastery because there are no legal grounds for this.
The National Reserve “Kiev-Pechersk Lavra” warned the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) about the termination of the agreement on the use of the Lower Lavra from March 29, 2023. This is stated in a letter from the acting director of the reserve Alexander Rudnik, published on the official website of the Lavra.
The letter refers to the fact that the agreement on the gratuitous use of religious buildings and other property belonging to the state by the UOC-MP was concluded on July 19, 2013. However, on December 23, 2022, by a decree of the Cabinet of Ministers, an Interdepartmental Working Group was created, which revealed a violation by the religious organization of the terms of the agreement.
Letter from Alexander Rudnik
Oleksandr Rudnik asked the UOC-PM to release the Lavra
“Considering the conclusions of the Interdepartmental Working Group and the letter of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine dated 09.03.2023 No. 06/34/2234-23, on the basis of clause 8.1. of the Agreement, the Reserve warns about the termination of the Agreement from 29.03.2023,” the text of the letter reads .
Lavra terminates the lease agreement with the UOC-MP
According to the document, members of the UOC-PM are obliged to vacate the territory of the Lavra until 03/29/2023. In addition, Alexander Rudnik called for a list of two or three representatives of the monastery to be included in the commission for the transfer and acceptance of state property before 03/14/2023.
Eviction of the UOC-MP from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra: what the priests say
The chairman of the Synodal Information and Education Department of the UOC, Bishop Kliment, in a commentary to the Strana newspaper, stated that his religious formation cannot leave the territory of the monastery, since there are no legal reasons for this.
“The management of the reserve sent an ultimatum, in which, without any explanation, they announced the termination of the lease agreement and demanded to move out of the monastery. Such demands have nothing to do with the legislation of Ukraine,” says Kliment.
Vladyka also said that he did not understand under what conditions the UOC-MP should transfer the material values and cultural heritage that she allegedly revived and preserved.
Recall that on December 1, 2022, the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra was officially registered as a monastery in the structure of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
We also wrote that on December 27, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine concluded that religious control centers in Russia should indicate this in their name, but the UOC-PM stated that they would not change their name.
Last November, the Security Service of Ukraine confirmed that it had conducted a series of searches on the territory of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra to prevent the church complex from being used as a cell of the “Russian world”.
