DESS: Registration of UOC monastery clones facilitates their transfer to OCU
Andriy Smirnov. Photo: Screenshot from VICHE video
Andriy Smirnov, an external expert of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), stated that parallel legal monasteries of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) are being registered in order to make it easier for the state to transfer them to the ownership of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). He shared this in an interview on the VICHE YouTube channel on May 7, 2025.
Smirnov, who is also a member of the OCU Synodal Commission, cited the example of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, pointing out that the creation of a "clone" monastery simplified the transfer of the Dormition Cathedral to the OCU.
“Why are parallel legal entities being created? I think the answer is obvious. It is done so that if the state decides to transfer these monastic complexes to the OCU, it would be ready to take them into possession. This is what happened with the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. If a legal entity had not been created, then even temporary use, lease, or transfer of the Dormition Cathedral would have been more complicated,” he stated.
As the UOJ previously reported, a court hearing is scheduled in Chernihiv concerning the eviction of nuns from the UOC's Yelets Convent.
Read also
"KyivPride" organizers announced dates for holding LGBT march in capital
Activists plan to hold mass events in June 2026.
Monastic tonsures performed at Kyiv Theological Academy
The Rector of the Kyiv Theological Schools, Archbishop Sylvester, tonsured four students of the academy and seminary into monasticism.
No language law violations found at Holosiiv Monastery school
The inspection found no evidence of Russian-language instruction in the school that operated on the grounds of the Holosiiv Monastery.
Czech authorities intend to seize three largest churches from Church, source
In Prague, preparations have begun to terminate lease agreements concluded with Orthodox church communities.
Rome's basilica bust re-attributed to Michelangelo
A marble bust that has stood for centuries in one of Rome’s basilicas has been re-attributed to Michelangelo after nearly 200 years in obscurity.