Dumenko discusses "cleansing" Lavra of UOC with new Reserve Director
Epifaniy Dumenko and Acting Director of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve Svitlana Kotliarevska. Photo: RISU
On May 27, 2025, Epifaniy Dumenko met with Svitlana Kotliarevska, newly appointed acting director of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve, according to the press service of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).
The two discussed “dialogue” between the OCU and the Reserve “to ensure the full operation and development of the monastery of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine within the Lavra’s walls.”
Additionally, Dumenko demanded that the Lavra’s caves be opened for the OCU and called for an end to “the groundless presence of representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate’s jurisdiction in the Reserve’s buildings.”
Dumenko and Kotliarevska agreed to “cooperate more closely” in order to “cleanse our outstanding Ukrainian shrine of the harmful influence of the so-called ‘Russian World’ ideology, which contradicts both spiritual values and the national interests of Ukraine.”
Dumenko expressed his confidence that the new leadership of the Reserve “will act more vigorously, within the framework of current legislation, to fully rid the Lavra of the influence of Moscow Patriarchate structures.”
Earlier, the UOJ reported that the Ministry of Culture had criticized the previous administration of the Lavra Reserve.
Read also
In Podgorica, multi-thousand procession held on city's patron saint day
Thousands of believers walked in a procession through the capital of Montenegro, honoring the memory of Saint Simeon the Myrrh-Streaming.
Persecuted UOC parish in Zeleniv reads Great Canon
A Bukovynian Orthodox community, deprived of its church in 2024, conducts Great Lent services in an adapted facility.
Patriarch Bartholomew warns against unacceptable peace for Ukraine
The head of the Constantinople Church stated that to achieve peace in Ukraine, the leaders of nations must take the "narrow path of justice."
MinCulture opens Lavra's Near Caves only for groups and by reservation
The Ministry of Culture's statement says that "the opening of the Near Caves for believers is not only a long-awaited and outstanding event in church life but also a sign of the indestructibility of our faith".
Metropolitan Onuphry reads Great Canon at Intercession Convent of Kyiv
The Primate of the UOC led the Great Compline with the reading of the second part of the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete at the capital's Intercesssion Convent.
OCU “hierarch” selling fake ID documents sent to pre-trial detention center
The Ivano-Frankivsk court has chosen a preventive measure for the OCU "bishop" suspected of issuing fictitious ordination certificates for the rank of deacon to evade mobilization.