The Ukrainian authorities have warned that from January 1 they will not renew the lease agreement with the UOC under the leadership of the Kyiv Miter. Onuphrius of two churches in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. These are the Uspensky Sobor and the Tabernacle Church, which are state property, elements of the museum part of the complex, and until now were given to the UOC for hourly use.
The Minister of Culture of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko reported: “We were contacted by Oleksandr Rudnyk, Acting General Director of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra National Architectural Complex, in connection with the UOC’s lease, which expires on December 31 under the 1-6 agreement and 2-6 dated 17 June 2016. We have recommended that the lease not be extended’.
The brotherhood of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra “St. Uspenie Bogorodicno”, which has 220 people, reacted negatively to this decision. In a statement, they recalled that the two churches were repaired and maintained with the funds of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, although they were not handed over to its property, but were used only during worship hours. “The refusal to extend the contract for the hourly use of the two historic churches shows that the Ukrainian state, which proclaims its European democratic choice, is far from its practical implementation,” the monastic brotherhood said.
At the disposal of the UOC remain the buildings that have a different status from the mentioned two historical churches, namely the “Near and Far Caves”, which mostly attract pilgrims to the Lavra, a dozen smaller churches, the monks’ residential buildings, the seminary, the residence at the head of the UOC, Metropolitan Onuphrius.
Since the beginning of October, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has been conducting searches in churches and monasteries of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on suspicion of links with the aggressor Russia. According to official information, since the beginning of the war, 23 criminal cases have been initiated against UOC activists, and 33 clerics are suspected. In the Ukrainian Rada (National Assembly), four bills have been introduced, which to varying degrees limit the activities of the UOC in the country.
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