Yelensky: OCU will be able to continue holding services in Lavra

Viktor Yelensky. Photo: sharij.net

The head of the State Ethnopolitics Committee Viktor Yelensky said on the air of Radio Liberty that the OCU will be able to hold "worship services" in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra after the Christmas service at the Dormition Cathedral.

The official noted that the Lavra belongs to the state, which makes it possible to hold worship there.

"I think this is far from the last time the OCU will serve in the Lavra’s cathedrals. Obviously, the monastic brethren, and not only of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, will decide: will they belong to the UOC or – as there is a mood among many priests, clergy, and monastics – they will break this bond," Yelensky said.

As reported, Dumenko urged the monks of the Lavra to "free themselves from Moscow's domination".

Read also

First words and photos after Bishop Arseniy's release published online

The abbot of the Sviatohirsk Lavra, after a year and ten months of imprisonment, offered praise to the Most Holy Theotokos for his release.

In Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi, UOC hierarch reads Great Canon near seized church

Bishop Antony performed the Great Penitential Canon together with believers near a closed church in the Cherkasy Eparchy of the UOC.

His Beatitude reads third part of Great Canon at St Florus Convent

The Primate of the UOC led the Great Compline with the reading of the Penitential Canon at the St. Florus Convent in Kyiv.

UOC lawyer thanks U.S. politicians for Metropolitan Arseniy’s release

Amsterdam gave special mention to Orthodox public and political figures in the United States who spoke out in defense of the UOC hierarch.

82-year-old UGCC nun killed in Brazil

In Brazil’s state of Paraná, a man broke into a UGCC convent and killed 82-year-old Sister Nadiia Havanska. The tragedy has stirred the Ukrainian community.

MP Mazurashu proposes establishing a Bible Day in Ukraine

MP Heorhiy Mazurashu is proposing to add a Bible Day to Ukraine’s list of commemorative dates, without introducing an additional day off.