Head of ROCOR Mission in Jerusalem condemns Lavra relics "expertise"

Archimandrite Roman (Krasovsky). Photo: ROCOR website

The Head of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem (ROCOR), Archimandrite Roman (Krasovsky), in an exclusive comment to the UOJ in America, condemned the "examination" of the relics of the Kyiv-Pechersk saints.

"They are trying to give a scientific appearance to the desecration of Orthodox relics and the Orthodox people. You have there myrrh-streaming skulls, how can you [scientifically] explain that? It's impossible. This is a façade, something material for the Western audience to justify the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church."

Drawing historical parallels, the archimandrite compared the actions of the Ministry of Culture to the "research programmes" of the Soviet regime, during which the relics and holy objects of the Church were seized, discredited, and even destroyed under the guise of "scientific research".

"As I said, this is a facade. This is just a continuation of what they did in the twentieth century in the USSR, in the communist regimes of Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, and it is terrible," he emphasized.

In his statement, Fr Roman reminds that while the times and titles of those persecuting the Church may change, the one ultimately behind them remains the same: "It is the devil, bringing his full armies against the Church, just as they did in the twentieth century; and we as Orthodox Christians seem to have learned little from our past, and we simply continue following the ways of this world, forgetting about the one thing that is necessary."

Earlier, the UOJ reported that a Greek theologian appealed to the heads of Churches regarding the sacrilege at the Lavra.

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