500 ‘pro-Russian’ monks entrenched in central kyiv

In 2019, the Ukrainian church split into two closely named branches: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (OCU), which managed to disassociate itself from Russia, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which remains loyal to Moscow and its patriarch Kiril I, a staunch supporter of Vladimir Putin. It is this latter that today controls the gigantic monastery located on the banks of the dnieper river and which the Ukrainian authorities mistrust.

A few days ago, the Government of Volodimir Zelensky ordered the fence out of 500 monks, novices and theologians who live there to leave the (state-owned) complex on Wednesday at the latest. The reason? It alleges that the UOC failed to comply with lease agreements in force for 50 years by illegally constructing buildings.

The ecclesiastics deny it and maintain that “lacks legal basis” and that no one has shown them any proof that the rental agreement has been violated. They maintain that it is a political matter, although in May 2022, at the beginning of the invasion, the Church cut ties with the Moscow Patriarchate.

And the truth is that kyiv also accuses the UOC to hide Russian propaganda and to maintain ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, which has supported Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor. In fact, last year, the Ukrainian intelligence services organized a raid on the Lavra. Furthermore, since the start of the war more than 50 clergy from the UOC have been arrested on charges including treason and collaboration with Russia.

[Andriy, el abad ortodoxo que espiaba para Moscú: le acusan de sentenciar a un batallón ucraniano entero]

“We will resist until the end”

The religious have decided to entrench themselves in the temple, 980 years old. The abbot of the monastery, Pavlo Lebidhas been warning for weeks that they would remain firm and that they would resist in place “as long as it is physically possible.”

On the same Wednesday, he posted a video on his Telegram channel in which he asked the Ukrainian authorities to put an end to “the pressure against the monastery”, since the congregation would maintain its position “until the end”. we collaborate with the enemy, we defend our creed, our land, our authorities and we pray. The law is on our side“, he asserted.

Likewise, Lebid also assured that he had filed a complaint in court. “We wanted to use our constitutional rights, protect ourselves, you and the relics. On March 23 we filed a lawsuit and there are already three judges who have challenged it,” she clarified.

Despite your intention to stay in the propertyIn recent days, monks and students have been seen leaving the Monastery of the Caves. At the gates, police officers and officials from Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture were waiting to check loaded vans and cars and make sure no religious relics were being taken, according to the report. Times.

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The second largest church

On Wednesday morning, hundreds of worshipers gathered outside the complex in a light snowfall to attend what was to be the last mass. Some, like Father Rustik, come from remote regions such as Dnipropetrovsk, which is several hundred kilometers away, to go to the service. Mostly, oppose eviction of the headquarters of what is the second largest Orthodox church in Ukraine.

“I think the monks here are being illegally expelled, and the property and churches we worked for many years are being looted,” Rustik told the news agency Reuters. In the same line, Lubov Banka 60-year-old choir singer, called the decision to evict the monastery’s residents a “political decision”. “They [el gobierno] They don’t follow the constitution. Monks are real angels. I don’t want the authorities to do this,” he explained to the chain BBC.