Jerusalem hierarch calls attempts to expel monks from Lavra a crime

Metropolitan Timothy (Margaritis) of Vostra. Photo: news.church.ua

The hierarch of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church, Exarch of the Holy Sepulcher in Cyprus, Metropolitan Timothy (Margaritis) of Vostra, said that attempts to expel the monks of the UOC from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra are a moral crime and a manifestation of hatred inappropriate for Christians, reports tass.ru.

“I don’t know if the decision of the Minister of Culture of Ukraine is formalized in law, but from a moral point of view, it’s a crime if he insists that the monks leave their cells,” the Metropolitan said.

According to him, the OCU is doing everything to destroy the possibility of reconciliation with the hierarchs of the UOC.

“Forcible seizure of churches and persecution against bishops, clerics and believers of the UOC, and now the expulsion of monks from the Lavra, in which there is an obvious manifestation of hatred that is not befitting for Christians in general, contribute to the growing gap between it (OCU – Ed.) and the canonical UOC. Instead of accepting all the monks with love as their brothers and giving them the opportunity to serve in their native monastery, the OCU, unfortunately, proves that it has no love of Christ and is at war with them,” added the hierarch of the Jerusalem Church.

Metropolitan Timothy called unacceptable the blackmail and cruel measures of the Ukrainian state in relation to the monks to make them accept the new church authority.

The hierarch recalled that the monks persecuted today once made the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, abandoned during the atheistic period, "a spiritual center, a place of prayer and a haven for the comfort of all believers."

“We all pray that the Lord will open the minds of Ukrainian government officials, allow them to correct their anti-Christian actions, stop using the church in their political games, leave the monks alone, and give them the opportunity to pray further for peace. The Lavra should continue its saving mission. But political leaders, unfortunately, are not sensitive about such subtleties,” Metropolitan Timothy emphasized.

As the UOJ reported earlier, MP Artem Dmytruk said that Tkachenko’s actions on the Lavra are incompetence and barbarism, so the head of the Ministry of Culture should leave his post.

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