Ministry of Justice to inspect 178 sites on Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra territory

The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Photo: vremya.press

The Justice Ministry of Ukraine will check 178 facilities on the territory of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra used by the UOC, hromadske.ua reports.

On 9 December 2022, the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers instructed it to check within two months whether there are legal grounds and whether the conditions of using the property on the territory of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve are complied with.

On December 28, 2022, the Ministry of Justice sent a letter to the Ministry of Culture with a request to provide the full addresses of immovable property and cadastral numbers of land plots on the territory of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy provided this information on 19 January 2022. The list contains 178 names of both the Upper and Lower Lavra.

An MP and the deputy head of the parliamentary Committee for Humanitarian and Information Policy, Yevheniya Kravchuk, said that the Ministry of Justice will check the UOC’s lease of the Lower Lavra property, explaining that the facilities of the Lower Lavra were transferred to the UOC in perpetual use under Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.

"The contract is written in such a way that in fact, the state cannot initiate its termination even in court. The way out could be a check on the observance of the law because it is no secret that construction on the Lavra territory was in full swing," Kravchuk said.

As reported, the directorate of the Reserve said that now the Ministry of Culture will decide which communities will pray in the Lavra.

Read also

European Parliament conors memory of Archbishop Anastasios of Albania

For the first time, the European Parliament hosted an event dedicated to the life and works of the late Primate of the Albanian Church.

UN seeks to include abortion and gender ideology in “children’s rights”

In Geneva, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is considering a draft that proposes to enshrine for minors the right to abortion and gender transition without parental consent.

Surveillance camera aimed at Orthodox school near Cherkasy removed – believers

Unknown individuals posing as electricians installed a camera opposite the entrance to an Orthodox gymnasium. After the police were called, the device disappeared.

Crosses removed from churches and Christians arrested in China – media

UCA News reported that the authorities have stepped up repression of Christians as part of the campaign of the “Sinicization of religions.”

Pashinyan signs a “roadmap for renewing the Armenian Church”

The prime minister was supported by 10 hierarchs of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Dumenko assures German ambassador that there is no persecution of UOC

The head of the OCU presented to the Western diplomat the situation with the persecution of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as the result of “Russian disinformation.”