Authorities “open” the Far Caves – whatever they do, nothing works for them

Berezhna speaking at the Lavra’s Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos. Photo: Ministry of Culture press service

The state has staged yet another disgraceful spectacle at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra – the “opening” of the Far Caves. Why such harsh words?

There is a famous line in the Soviet cartoon Three from Prostokvashino: “To sell something you don’t need, you first have to buy something you don’t need.”

The authorities followed exactly the same logic: to stage a grand “opening” of the caves, they first had to close them – which they did in 2023, without offering any remotely coherent explanation.

But let us take things one step at a time.

1. In February, the Near Caves were “opened” with exactly the same pomp and ceremony. Did anything actually change for UOC parishioners? Fundamentally – no. Believers were barred from the Lower Lavra before, and they remain barred now. The only difference is that visitors can now be rushed around the tourist route in a group for ten or fifteen minutes, under the watchful eye of OCU clerics – and even then only between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. The same fate awaits the Far Caves. The only difference is that visits will require advance registration and will be permitted just two days a week.

2. The caves were not even “opened” by OCU “hierarchs,” but by officials and MPs – not all of whom are Orthodox. Culture Minister Berezhna and MP Kniazhytskyi, for example, identify themselves as Uniates. A microphone was set up for them in front of the solea, allowing them to deliver their ceremonial speeches inside the church. Berezhna declared that the state was “restoring the tradition of Ukrainian pilgrimage” and “returning the Lavra to its historical Ukrainian context.” What exactly she meant remains a mystery. Apparently, “Ukrainian pilgrimage” now means express prayer – on the move, under supervision, and strictly according to schedule.

3. But the most shameful part of the entire performance was the participation of Athonite monks from New Esphigmenou, led by Archimandrite Bartholomew. It was they who lent this thoroughly Soviet-style event a veneer of church legitimacy.

So what is the conclusion?

The authorities and the OCU are straining every nerve to prove that everything they do is properly “churchlike” – no worse than under the “Moscow priests.” Yet every time, the result is the same: a parody with a Bolshevik aftertaste.

In the Soviet Union, there was a popular joke about workers at a television factory who smuggled parts out under their coats so they could assemble a TV set at home. But every time they put the pieces together, they somehow ended up with a Kalashnikov rifle.

This is exactly the same kind of story.

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