Ukrainians and Russians clash over the kyiv Caves

The Ukrainian authorities had ordered the expulsion of the monks faithful to the Moscow Patriarchate. kyiv wants the Moscow jurisdiction to separate. The “Lavra” is the oldest monastic institution of Russian Orthodoxy. His fate is tied to the results of the bloody Russian invasion.

Moscow () – The faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church historically linked to Moscow (UPZ) took to the streets of Kiev to demand that the expulsion of the monks from the local “Lavra of the Caves” be annulled. The administration of the institution, owned by the Ukrainian state, had ordered all UPZ members to leave the monastic territory before March 29 due to the termination of their contract. This was stated in a notice issued by the general director, Aleksandr Rudnik, which was also published on the Lavra’s official website, although it was later removed.

The letter recalled that the agreement had been in force since 2013 for the free use of the church buildings and other facilities associated with them. Rudnik then cited the conclusions of the inter-ministerial working group, and a letter from the Ministry of Culture dated March 9 in which it was stated that the community of monks had violated the conditions of use of state property. Also mentioned was Ukrainian President Zelenskyj’s decree imposing personal sanctions on representatives of all religious associations linked to Russia.

From the Moscow Patriarchate came a series of accusations comparing Ukrainian politicians to “Soviet officials of the 1960s” and protesting the lack of real legal grounds for the eviction, which is only linked to the “distorted mania” of the Ukrainian leaders. This was stated by the Chairman of the Synodal Department of Culture of the Russian Church, Metropolitan Kliment.

Patriarch Kirill even appealed to Pope Francis and UN Secretary General Guterres to “prevent the hunting of the monks” of the Lavra. He also recalled the great “unity of the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples”, which have their common origin in kyiv, and which “can be found carved on the walls of the Monastery of the Caves”.

The Kiev Minister of Culture, Aleksandr Tkacenko, responded to the accusations and the street protests by participating in a television program, where he retracted the ultimatum and assured that “the monks will be able to remain in the Lavra, under certain conditions, and in any case there will be no forceful action against the monks”. The decision to renew or not the agreement, according to the minister, “will allow the monks to decide how they want to stay in the Lavra.”

Tkacenko said he had personally spoken to everyone, including several priests who have moved from the UPZ Church to the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church of the PZU, who are working to obtain that status for monks as well. “In any case, we will not force anyone, we are a democratic country,” the minister concluded. According to kyiv, if Muscovite jurisdiction is withdrawn, all the religious monks present will be able to continue to live and celebrate according to their own traditions, under the control and protection of the Ukrainian state.

The Kiev Cave Monastery is the oldest monastic institution of Russian Orthodoxy, dating back to the mid-11th century, under the principality of Jaroslav the Wise, son of Prince-Baptist Vladimir the Great. According to tradition, the first hermit Antonij chose a cave near the Dnipro River upon returning home after years of monastic experience on Mount Athos, and around him other ascetics occupied the adjacent caves. Finally, the monk Feodosij was chosen from among them, who united everyone in the great community that stretches from the Kiev hill along the path of the caves to the river.

Even after the Tatars destroyed the city in 1240, the monks remained in the caves until the Soviet period, when Moscow turned the Lavra into a museum. With the fall of the USSR, the administration was left in the hands of the Ukrainian state, and monks from all Orthodox jurisdictions found a place in the monastic cells under the official direction of the clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate. After so many divisions and conflicts, in the midst of the bloody Russian invasion, the fate of the Great Lavra stands as a prophecy for the future of Russia and Ukraine.