Ministry of Culture: Lavra is taken away – UOC did not want to disavow ROC

Oleksandr Tkachenko was not informed about the Council of the UOC on May 27, 2022. Photo: screenshot of the TSN YouTube channel

In an interview with TSN, Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko stated that the expulsion of the UOC from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is “a natural regular process, since the UOC-MP did not engage in the dialogue on distancing itself from the Russian Church, which supports Russia’s war against Ukraine.”

Therefore, Tkachenko believes, "the question that now arose was obvious." The minister said that "since the middle of last year, we started talking with law enforcement officers regarding the verification of the use of the property of the Lower Lavra by the UOC-MP."

During this time, according to Tkachenko, “many things happened, including criminal investigations against some representatives of the UOC-MP for collaboration, and sanctioned persons appeared, including Metropolitans Anthony and Pavel, who for some reason are still on the Lavra’s territory."

Recall that earlier the UOC held a Council, at which it announced a complete break with the Moscow Patriarchate.

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