OCU and UGCC arguing about who to receive Pochaiv Lavra

The Holy Dormition Pochaiv Lavra. Photo: uk.wikipedia.org

The head of the Communication Department of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), Ihor Yatsiv, declared the Uniates' claims to the Pochaiv Lavra, while the appointed "Archimandrite" Nestor Pysyk emphasizes that its transfer to the UGCC "would be a very questionable step", reports Liga.net.

Ihor Yatsiv stated that the UGCC counts on "prayerful and physical presence" in the Pochaiv Lavra "on a permanent basis, as it was with the UOC-MP, based on agreements".

"The position of our Church is based on historical sources that the Greek Catholics prayed in the Pachaiv Lavra," said the UGCC spokesperson. "Greek Catholics were forcibly expelled from the entire left-bank part of Ukraine under Tsarist Russia. We did not voluntarily leave the Pochaiv Lavra."

According to Yatsiv, "the Basilian monks speak of their readiness to live there (in the Pochaiv Lavra – Ed.) a full monastic life, as it once was."

"We simply testified to our right to be there so that we wouldn't be left without anything because we were silent," Yatsiv noted.

"Metropolitan" Nestor Pysyk of the UGCC insists that "both today and in the Soviet period and when Galicia was under Poland, the Lavra has been always perceived as an Orthodox shrine".

According to him, transferring the monastery to the Greek Catholics "will not receive support from local people and will be a very questionable step."

"I'm not sure that the Greek Catholic Church will be able to artificially transport pilgrims from Galicia for long if there is no local support," the representative of the OCU said.

The publication quotes one of the leaders of the parliamentary faction "Servant of the People," who acknowledged that there is "certain tension" between the OCU and the UGCC regarding the Pochaiv Lavra.

"There are concerns that handing it over to the UGCC means "dividing" the country into two religious parts. There will be a Western Uniate part with the Pochaiv Lavra and an Eastern part with the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra," the deputy said.

Another representative of the presidential party, head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy Nikita Poturaev, believes that in the Pochaiv Lavra, "different Churches' services are possible" since "monopolization of such shrines is excluded".

The OCU disagrees with this opinion.

"If we talk about the joint life of the two monasteries, the Pochaiv Lavra is not the best place for it," stressed Nestor Pysyk. “I would not risk throwing a bone of contention between the Churches in the form of joint use of the Lavra, it will only lead to deeper conflicts.”

As reported, previously the head of the UGCC, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, has repeatedly stated that the Greek Catholics have the historical right to serve at the Pochaiv Lavra. In early February 2023, Basilian monks handed over a letter from Shevchuk to the head of the Ternopil Regional Council demanding the "return" of the Lavra to the UGCC.

Read also