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.

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