Culture Ministry allows possibility of handing Lavra’s “Afghan” church to OCU

"Afghan" church of the UOC in Kyiv. Photo: tripadvisor

Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture will consider the transfer of the Resurrection Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra to the OCU. The church is also known as the “Afghan” church because it is dedicated to soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Deputy Prime Minister and Culture Minister Tetiana Berezhna said this during a session of the Verkhovna Rada on June 12, 2026.

MP Serhiy Rudyk raised the issue with the minister. According to him, the OCU’s Luhansk Eparchy is forced to hold services in St. Cyril’s Church, where the cost of using the church amounts to 100,000 hryvnias. Rudyk said this was too expensive for “displaced persons from Luhansk.”

Rudyk demanded either that the fee be reduced or that the OCU be given an alternative – the Resurrection Church of the Lavra. He did not explain why displaced persons from Luhansk cannot attend any other OCU church in Kyiv. He also asked why the “Moscow church” uses the site under a 1995 lease agreement.

In response, Berezhna said the Culture Ministry seeks “equal” access to such buildings so that paid services remain affordable. She cited “positive precedents” of transferring Lavra buildings for the OCU’s use and stressed that any new transfers require an audit of the buildings and a full package of documents.

“I have noted your question regarding this specific site,” the minister said, adding that, in her view, the issue can be “considered and resolved.”

Earlier, UOJ reported that the authorities allowed the OCU into St. Cyril’s Church in Kyiv. Epifaniy Dumenko announced that it would become the “administrative center” of the OCU’s Luhansk Diocese. St. Cyril’s Church is under the authority of the St. Sophia of Kyiv National Conservation Area. Since 2011, it had housed the UOC’s St. Cyril Monastery. Its agreement with the Culture Ministry expired on January 30, 2025, and officials refused to extend the monastery’s lease.

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