Lawyer: Authorities do not care how much money believers invested in Lavra

The state of the Lavra, in which the monastery received it after the USSR. Photo: Educational Department of the UOC

The authorities, intending to take away the property of the monastery, hush up the issue of funds invested by believers and monks in the restoration of the Lavra after the Soviet devastation, the lawyer of the Lavra, Archpriest Nikita Chekman, said in his telegram channel.

“Today (at the court session on August 9 – Ed.) a pertinent question was raised – did the monastery take part in the stock-taking of property in order to determine its value today? In turn, the reserve slyly and falsely replied that the monastery refused to participate in the work of the inventory commission. The monastery never refused and insisted on its participation in the stock-taking, demanded to calculate how much people's money, money of the UOC believers, was invested here. In response, we hear only ridicule,” the lawyer said.

At the same time, the priest says that the current repressions of the authorities will benefit the Church: “But we will stand. We see how UOC temples are taken away from the communities, but they remain faithful children of the Church of Christ.”

According to him, if the courts make lawless decisions regarding the Lavra, lawyers will turn to international organizations for redress.

“We will apply to the ECtHR, we will do everything in our power. At the same time, what does not depend on us is in the hands of God,” concluded the lawyer.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that according to Fr. Nikita Chekman, the reserve confirmed it’s going to expel the monks from the Lavra.

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