Lotysh urges Lavra brethren to “come to their senses” and “return” to OCU

Avraamiy Lotysh. Photo: OCU Lavra’s Facebook page

On June 15, 2026, the Lavra’s “abbot”, Avraamiy Lotysh, addressed the monastery brethren with a call to “come to their senses” and recognize his organization. He justified his demand by saying that during the war “the enemy is striking all of us,” without distinguishing between issues of church unity.

According to Lotysh, the monks should “return” to the OCU in order to defeat the enemy “through united efforts”; otherwise, he said, the enemy would advance further. He also called on the world community to condemn Russia’s actions against the monastery.

The appeal drew a response from a UOC hierarch, Archbishop Jonah (Cherepanov), abbot of Kyiv’s St. Jonah Monastery. In his comment, he called Lotysh’s words “strange” and pointed to an obvious logical error.

The hierarch recalled that people usually return to a place they once left, whereas the brethren of the Lavra “never belonged to the structure created by Petro Poroshenko” and, accordingly, had never left it.

As the UOJ reported, Lotysh told a delegation from the United States about the “development of the monastic community” of the OCU in the Lavra.

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