Lotysh: First they called me a traitor, and then I went to OCU
Lotysh is receiving a cross from the Primate of the UOC having agreed on the betrayal with Dumenko. Photo: UOC
The only monk of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra who betrayed the UOC, Avrahamiy Lotysh in an interview with the propagandist of the OCU Ya. Samokhvalova detailed his move to Dumenko’s structure.
According to him, it is wrong to think that he was considered a traitor only after he went to the OCU. It was vice versa.
"They started calling me a traitor in the monastery all the time. The situation in the monastery was becoming more and more tense. My military friends offered to introduce me to Metropolitan Epifaniy," said Lotysh.
According to him, he agreed on everything with Dumenko back in autumn 2022, but until the end of March 2023 lived in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, communicated with the brethren and pretended that nothing had happened.
"In the winter, I was still living in the Lavra. If I immediately stated that I was going, I should have left immediately," Lotysh logically reasoned. “A few days before my statement about the transition to the OCU (29 March – Ed.), I took a small bag and left. I lived at St. Michael’s".
According to him, in Serhiy Dumenko he "immediately felt a father of the church, a very close person in spirit". Moreover, close to such an extent that Lotysh "even breathed easier".
He assures that the brethren of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra do not care what jurisdiction to be under: "When I was under the jurisdiction of the MP, the brethren used to say the same thing: we don't care whether Onuphry or Epifaniy." But Lotysh could not explain why none of them ever defected to the OCU. He suggests that the brethren were intimidated by Metropolitan Pavel, who is now under house arrest in Voronkiv near Kyiv.
Nevertheless, Lotysh assures that "the OCU monastery is being formed". According to him, Dumenko managed to gather 7 people for the Lavra (a week earlier he spoke of 12).
With these people he lives in Building 70 (His Beatitude Onuphy’s residence) According to him, the Ministry of Culture has extended the lease of the Dormition and Refectory Churches by the OCU only until the end of 2023. What will happen next, Lotysh does not know.
Earlier Lotysh said that he is considered a traitor but he is like Mazepa.
Read also
U.S. House of Representatives passes ban on sex-change surgeries for minors
The lower house of Congress supported an initiative limiting medical interventions that could have irreversible consequences for the health of minors.
Armenian Church to appeal to international bodies over government pressure
The decision was made by the Supreme Spiritual Council in Etchmiadzin against the backdrop of criminal cases, pressure on the clergy, and the state's attempts to interfere in church life.
Pashinyan's supporters attempt to storm Etchmiadzin Cathedral in Armenia
The confrontation around the Armenian Apostolic Church intensified after rebellious hierarchs called for the Catholicos's resignation and attempted to exert forceful pressure in Etchmiadzin.
Persecuted community of Maliatyntsi celebrates first patronal feast after seizure
In Bukovyna, the faithful of the St. Nicholas community in the village of Maliatyntsi celebrated the Feast Day of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra in Lycia for the first time after the church seizure.
European authorities downplay scale of Christian persecution, report says
Human rights defenders reported an increase in attacks on believers in the EU and pointed out that official statistics do not reflect the real level of anti-Christian hostility.
Mukachevo Eparchy bishops congratulate orphaned children on St Nicholas Day
Metropolitan Theodore and Bishop Hilarion visited the “New Family” children’s shelter in Uzhhorod.