DESS to order Pochaiv Lavra to sever alleged “ties” with Moscow

Viktor Yelensky. Photo: Ukrinform

Ukraine’s State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience will issue an order to the Pochaiv Lavra over allegations that it maintains ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. The agency’s head, Viktor Yelensky, announced this, Ukrinform reports.

According to Yelensky, DESS intends to formally notify the leadership of the Pochaiv Lavra that it must eliminate its alleged affiliation with the Moscow Patriarchate, which the agency claims to have identified. The official did not specify the exact contents of the document or when it would be issued.

The Pochaiv Lavra is one of the largest holy sites of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and has remained under scrutiny from state authorities for several years. The monastery’s leadership and UOC representatives have repeatedly stated that the Lavra has not been subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate since the decisions adopted by the UOC Council in 2022.

As the UOJ previously reported, an official in the Ternopil region was tried over the transfer of land to the Pochaiv Lavra. Disputes over the monastery’s status and property have repeatedly become the subject of court proceedings and statements by government agencies in recent years.

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