The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers canceled the order of the government of the country from 2013 on the transfer to the use of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) of the objects of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko said.

"The government recognized the invalid order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of the Yanukovych era dated July 11, 2013 No. 519 "The issue of transferring buildings and structures to the free use of the Holy Assumption Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (monastery) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church," he wrote in his Telegram channel.

Tkachenko added that the management of Lavra's property was transferred to the authorities, "since it is the state that is the owner of these facilities."

The attempts of the Ukrainian authorities to take away the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra from the UOC were responded to by the Russian Foreign Ministry. The official representative of the department, Maria Zakharova, called Kiev's actions a crime against its own people.

"What the Kiev regime led by Zelensky has done against the citizens of Ukraine, in my opinion, is the most terrible crime, because people believed him and entrusted their votes, delegated authority to him. Simply put, they gave him the opportunity to decide their fate for them. There can be nothing worse neither from the point of view of the law, nor morality, nor conscience when those who trusted you are deceived," the diplomat said at a briefing.

According to her, the persecution of the Kiev regime against the UOC is carried out, including with the support of the United States.

"Now Ukrainian neo-Nazis intend to take away from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church not only the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, but also the second largest - Pochayiv. This arbitrariness is taking place with the support of the United States and Constantinople (The Patriarchate of Constantinople. - RT). What is happening now is incredible, shameful and sanctioned by people to whom the people have delegated the right to govern the country for the benefit of the state and this people," she stressed.

  • Maria Zakharova
  • RIA Novosti
  • © Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

After that, Zakharova called on the international community to respond to what is happening in Ukraine.

"We again call on the relevant international structures and the world community, the Orthodox world to give a principled assessment of the actions of the Kiev regime against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to demand that it stop this inhumane and spiritual arbitrariness, these criminal acts," the diplomat said.

Persecution of the Church

Recall that in recent months, the Kiev regime has intensified repressions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. According to analysts, one of the main blows to the UOC was an attempt to take away the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra from it. On March 10, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine notified the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra about the termination of the lease agreement unilaterally. The National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra", subordinate to the Ministry of Culture, intends to terminate the contract with the Holy Assumption Monastery of the UOC located on its territory by the end of the month.

The UOC considers this decision illegal and refuses to leave the monastery. On March 30, a property inventory commission was to begin work in the Lavra for the subsequent transfer of the monastery to the state. However, the members of the commission were not allowed to enter the territory of the monastery by parishioners who had gathered at the walls of the Lavra to protect it.

As Alexander Tkachenko later reported, a statement was filed with the police on the fact of obstruction of the work of the commission.

The viceroy of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel, believes that the main responsibility for what is happening with the monastery is borne by the country's President Volodymyr Zelensky. In his video message to the Orthodox and the head of state, the Metropolitan also said that the brethren of the monastery would not compromise, and appealed to the leadership of Ukraine with a request to stop putting pressure on judges and the Lavra.

  • Metropolitan Paul, Viceroy of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, among the parishioners of the UOC
  • AFP
  • © SERGEI CHUZAVKOV

At the same time, the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) is already trying to organize its own monastery on the territory of the Lavra. The former archimandrite of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Abraham (Lotysh) was appointed acting "viceroy" of the new monastery in the OCU. He became the only member of the brethren who moved to the OCU after the beginning of the conflict with the authorities. In response, the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church announced that "for evading the schism and gross violation of the oath of a clergyman," Lotysh was banned from serving.

Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov condemned the actions of the Kiev authorities against the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, noting that the Russian Federation is ready to support the monks of the monastery.

"If they are evicted from the Lavra, then everything will depend on their decision, what they will do next. But, of course, I have no doubt that in Russia, of course, no one will remain indifferent to their further fate if it is necessary, "he said, answering the question whether any options for the evacuation of priests from Ukraine are being worked out if they are evicted from the Lavra.

The situation, similar to the events in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, is developing around the Pochayiv Lavra, located in the Ternopil region. On March 14, Oleksandr Tkachenko reported that the monastery had begun processes to return property to the state. At the same time, the official demanded to open a criminal case against the viceroy of the Pochayiv Lavra, Metropolitan Vladimir, for the fact that he did not allow representatives of the Kremenets-Pochayiv State Historical and Architectural Reserve to enter the church located on the territory of the monastery.

As in the case of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, even before the end of the eviction of the UOC monks from the monastery, schismatics from the OCU announced the creation of their own monastery there. In addition, in addition to the OCU, the rights to use the territory of the Lavra are also claimed by the Uniate Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

"They will try to eradicate"

According to analysts, the attacks on the Kiev-Pechersk and Pochayiv Lavras are the most notable examples of harassment of the UOC in recent times. However, the scale of persecution of the Church in Ukraine is much wider. Thus, according to the head of the legal department of the UOC, Archpriest Alexander Bakhov, as of the end of 2022, about 250 seizures of religious communities of the UOC were recorded.

  • Pochayiv Lavra
  • RIA Novosti
  • © Sergey Pyatakov

In addition, criminal cases are being initiated against the clergy of the UOC in Ukraine, and in January of this year, a bill was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada that requires a complete ban on the activities of the UOC in the country.

Even the support of its hierarchs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the condemnation of the SVO and the public statement of independence from the Russian Orthodox Church did not save it from persecution.

According to RISS expert Oleg Nemensky, the Kiev regime is fighting the UOC, since this Church does not fit into the modern "Ukrainian national ideology".

"The UOC in its structure, origin and idea of the structure of the world Orthodox Church does not carry an anti-Russian charge, is not a hysterically anti-Russian organization. This does not suit the current political elite of Ukraine, so the task is to destroy it one way or another. The UOC will try to eradicate everywhere and everywhere. Kiev is ready to resort to any means for this, "the specialist said in a conversation with RT.

At the same time, he noted that in the current situation "there will be many people who will defend the Church, clergy and laity to the last." At the same time, Nemensky doubted that the supporters of the UOC would be able to survive against the repressive machine of Kiev.

It is worth noting that against the background of unprecedented attacks on the UOC, Volodymyr Zelensky, in his address on March 29, called Ukraine "the territory of the greatest religious freedom" in Eastern Europe. Experts consider such statements populist and cynical.

"There is no religious freedom in Ukraine for a long time. The oppression of the UOC began under Petro Poroshenko. Then there were mass persecutions of Orthodox churches and monasteries, "said Sergey Margulis, senior lecturer at the Department of International Politics and Foreign Regional Studies of the Institute of Social Sciences of the RANEPA, in an interview with RT.

Meanwhile, in the West, repressions against the UOC prefer not to notice. This, in particular, was pointed out by the Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov. According to him, the persecution of monks in Ukraine takes place at a time when Washington is holding a "Summit for Democracy", at which slogans are heard about the need to respect the freedom of the individual, speech, conscience and religion.

"What is the silence of the participants of the event in connection with the discrimination of the monks of the monastery? Is this indifference, double standards or confirmation of blind adherence to the us guidelines?" the Embassy's Telegram channel quoted Antonov as saying.

Experts believe that the lack of reaction of the West is explained by the fact that the United States and the EU themselves are involved in the campaign against the UOC launched in Ukraine.

"They organize these persecutions in many ways. The OCU was created on a direct initiative from Washington. Accordingly, the replacement of the UOC with the OCU is an American plan. How are they going to criticize it publicly? This is in their interests and is done within the framework of the campaign launched by them," Oleg Nemensky concluded.