Hundreds of believers gathered within the walls of the kyiv-Pechersk Lavra at the sound of the knock. There was not enough space for everyone in the temples, and people stayed to pray on the cobblestones of the street.
Photo: REUTERS
After the Kiev regime decided to expel Orthodox monks from the Lavra in central Kiev on March 30, the confrontation between the authorities and the church seemed to have reached its peak. On the eve of the deadline, until which the royal Orthodox, after notification of the Ministry of Culture of the Independents, were to leave the monastery. Because? Yes, because the lease with the State (with the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Reserve, which is under the jurisdiction of the Zelensky Ministry of Culture) with the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra of the UOC-MP was terminated on March 10 .
AS WAS
On Thursday morning officials from the Ministry of Culture arrived at the Lavra. It was a gray commission given for the inventory of goods. Parishioners, who were praying in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, left the church and blocked their actions. The “inventory”, surrounded in a ring, was not allowed inside the Lavra buildings.
But for the moment they did not interfere in the confrontation between parishioners and officials.
Earlier, the abbot of the kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel, said that the monks would not leave their territory until there is a court decision on the proceedings with the reservation. And then he turned to Zelensky:
– Mr. president! I tell you and your pack that our tears will not fall to the ground. They will fall on your head. Do you think that, having come to power on our backs, you can do this? The Lord will not forgive you or your family! – so said the metropolitan (in the purest Ukrainian language).
In his opinion, the sixth president of the country is to blame for the abnormal events around the kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. And also in the fact that “220 brothers took to the streets.” But most of the monks have been living in the Lavra for more than 30 years, and they simply have nowhere to go in case of eviction.
“You could not receive Metropolitan Onufry of kyiv and All Ukraine with the Synod,” the Metropolitan reminded the President. – You could not stop the Minister of Culture, who was obsessed with rage, anger and hatred. So he does everything with your permission. Woe to you! Fear!
One of the church leaders reminded the Ukrainian head of state that the UOC had signed a long-term lease. Which cannot be broken during the war.
– We will not be evicted, because now there are laws that are on the side of the person, – summed up the rector of the Lavra.
WHAT IS ZELENSKY?
He commented in his own style on what is happening in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in general and in the kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in particular. The former comedian called the coven a defense of society against “Moscow’s manipulation of religion.”
“Another step has been taken towards strengthening the spiritual independence of our state,” he said. – Ukraine is the territory with the greatest religious freedom in this part of Europe.
According to this statesman, such “freedom” has been felt since 1991. And so, he believes, it will always be in Ukraine.
The kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’s lawyer, Archpriest Nikita Chekman, announced the filing of a lawsuit with the kyiv Economic Court.
Around the same time, Metropolitan of the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), Epiphany, approved Archimandrite Avraamy for the post of vicar in the kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. He has lived in the Lavra for a long time, was a member of its Council, served in the UOC, but literally before the eviction he went over to the schismatics. After this, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church banned Archimandrite Abraham from serving.
He himself addressed the clergy of the UOC with a call to join the OCU.
In the second half of Thursday, it became known that people with machine guns entered the territory of the Lavra, and rice carts appeared at the entrance. This was announced by the adviser to the Patriarch of Moscow and all of Rus, Archpriest Nikolai Balashov.
The brothers and parishioners were going to stand until the end. But Satan rules the ball there.
