Lavra abbot addresses President: Our tears will fall on your heads
Metropolitan Pavel. Photo: a screenshot from the YouTube channel ‘Lavra. The Path of Salvation’
On 29 March 2023, Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshhorod, the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, in an address to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that the tears of the monastery brethren "will not fall on the ground, they will fall on your heads".
Speaking about the persecution that was brought by the state authorities against St John Chrysostom, Metropolitan Paul said he had received a letter from the museum director and the Culture Minister "who are driving the Lavra, with its thousand -years history, from the holy place".
"I say to you, Mr President! I tell you and your team that our tears will not fall on the ground, they will fall on your head. Do you think that by coming into power on our backs you can do this? God will not forgive you or your family!" said Metropolitan Paul.
"Because today, 220 people of the brethren are thrown out on the street by you. Because you refused to receive Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine with the Synod. You could not stop the Minister of Culture, who is possessed by rage, anger and hatred – so, he does everything with your permission. Woe upon you. Beware!" stressed the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
As earlier reported, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is the territory of the greatest religious freedom.
Read also
U.S. bishops call for Church unity on Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy
The Assembly of Bishops of the USA has issued an encyclical for the Triumph of Orthodoxy on Church unity, veneration of icons, and support for pan-Orthodox ministry.
OCU organizes harassment of businessman for aiding UOC
Hryshchuk called for boycotting the business of the entrepreneur who built a UOC church in the Rivne region.
Head of Lavra Reserve: I believe UOC monks will move to the OCU
Ostapenko said there are 140 UOC monks and novices on the territory of the Lower Lavra.
"Shield of Judah": Biblical name given to operations against Iran
A joint Israeli–US military operation against Iran has received a code name referencing the biblical forefather of the Jewish royal line.
In Syria, Islamic militants behead statues of Christ and Virgin Mary
Vandals beheaded statues of the Lord and the Mother of God at the entrance to the "Cave of the Virgin Mary" in the village of Al-Basiya near the coastal city of Banias in Syria.
Icon with particle of Gabriel Urgebadze's relics to be brought to Uzhhorod from Georgia
The holy icon, painted in Georgia, will be brought to the Holy Trinity Church of the Mukachevo Eparchy of the UOC.