UOC hierarch: Authorities cannot legally take away Kiev-Pechersk Lavra

Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl

The Ukrainian authorities granted the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under a lease agreement, and the state has no legal basis for its termination, Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl told Russia 24.

According to the abbot of the Lavra, the contract can be terminated only if the monks of the monastery violate the architectural ensemble or fail to ensure the safety of the monument.

The brethren of the monastery did not harm the architectural monuments, but, on the contrary, completely restored them. “We have changed the whole sewer system, reroofed the churches, buildings, painted the churches, some buildings were restored on the foundations that had been before. Therefore, there is no confusion between the state and the monastery,” said Bishop Pavel.

He assumed that politicians make statements about the transfer of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in the hope of high rating in the election race and called Filaret Denisenko’s new title "the death breath of a man leaving for the other world".

The abbot of Lavra does not understand why some representatives of the authorities talk about de-communization but do not follow the example of Latvia, Estonia and Moldova. In these countries, unlike in Ukraine, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the state returned temples and monasteries to the Church.

According to Metropolitan Pavel, the authorities will not take away the monasteries by force, because such an act will harm their image in the face of voters and the world community. On the contrary, officers of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Internal Affairs help monks to maintain peace and order in the territory of the Monastery.

On October 26, Filaret Denisenko declared that "lavras’ brotherhood is obliged to voluntarily choose the Ukrainian Church".

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