Dumenko: The Lavra's monks should join the OCU themselves

Serhiy Dumenko. Photo: ukrinform

Serhiy Dumenko said that the monastics of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra would themselves transfer to the OCU and remain in the monastery already under his leadership. The head of the OCU stated this in an interview with lb.ua.

Responding to the journalist’s remark that there are almost no monks in the OCU, Dumenko stated that he wants “the monastery to develop further from the monks who are now laboring there. Not to plant others, but to develop those monks of this monastery who will decide to change the jurisdiction. There are such people now, and gradually the monastery of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine will grow out of them.”

“Those who were here and labored in the Caves Monastery will continue to labor, but already in the monastery as part of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine; and this process is irreversible. I am convinced that over time, the majority of the brethren will join this process, and the issue of the Lower Lavra will also be resolved directly by the brethren of this monastery,” says Dumenko.

According to him, in the Lavra “two monasteries will exist simultaneously – one as part of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the other – of the Moscow Patriarchate. This phenomenon is temporary. Gradually, only one monastery will be left.”

Earlier, the UOJ reported that according to the head of the OCU Dumenko, the communities of the UOC would not want to be called the “Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine” and would voluntarily join the OCU.

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