The head of the non-canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), Metropolitan Epiphany (Dumenko), has appointed Archimandrite Avraamy (Lotysh) as acting abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. On this subject reported on the UCU website.
Lotysh was previously a monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra as part of the Canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC), but decided to move to OCU.
On the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s YouTube channel, Abraham’s video message was also posted after he was awarded the governorship of the Lavra.
“They always try to convince us that the only reason for these events is the attitude of the state. However, we must honestly admit that our former Viceroy and the hierarchy in the person of the Metropolitan and the Synod have, step by step, shaped the sad situation in which we found ourselves,” declared He.
The Archimandrite believes that the representatives of the UOC, which on March 29, at the insistence of the Ukrainian authorities, must leave the Lavra, instead of talking to each other, have shown closeness and threats. Father Abraham also recalled that the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople and its head, Patriarch Bartholomew, granted the OCU autocephalous (local) status.
At the same time, Abraham turned to the clergy of the Canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and urged them to join the OCU.
“I urge you to remain in Lavra as a member of the local Orthodox Church of Ukraine under the Omophorion of His Beatitude Metropolitan Epiphanius. I am ready to communicate with you and strive to work with you to renewing our monastery as a true monastery and a place of spiritual renewal for monks and all the faithful,” he said.
In response to this, the canonical UOC declared that “for escaping into schism and flagrant violation of a clergyman’s oath” by decree of Metropolitan Onufry (Berezovsky), Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine, Abraham was banned from serving.
Meanwhile, Metropolitan Epiphanius appealed to the Ukrainian government with a request to provide “premises for worship, residence of brothers and monastic activities”. The cleric also expressed hope that “the state will help protect the governor (Archimandrite Avraamy) and the monastery from possible provocations from supporters of the Moscow Patriarchate.”
From the evening of March 29, the services of the UOC-MP continued in the temples of Laure. In particular, the evening service in the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross was led by the primate of this church, Metropolitan Onufry (Berezovsky).
Conflict of the UOC with the Ukrainian authorities over the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra
The Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, founded in 1051, is divided into two parts – the Upper Lavra and the Lower Lavra. The lower part, where the monastery and the caves with relics are located, is under the jurisdiction of the UOC, while the upper part is considered the National Historical and Cultural Reserve and is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian authorities began to demand that UOC monks leave the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in the context of the conflict with the UOC, which broke out in October 2022. Then the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) began conducting searches in church temples, and official Kiev accused its priests of collaboration with Russia and a pro-Russian stance.
Subsequently, the Ukrainian authorities informed the Primate of the UOC, Metropolitan Onufry, that from January 2023 the term of the lease for the Main Temple of the Lavra, the Cathedral of the Assumption and the Church of the refectory, would end. In March 2023, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Museum-Reserve announced the termination of the agreement with the UOC on the use of the Lower Lavra, as violations were revealed in the activities of the monastery. The clergy was ordered to leave the monastery and the residence of the UOC primate until March 29.
Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said that after the monks leave the lavra there will be an audit of “museum exhibits”, including relics of saints. At the same time, he pointed out that the monks could stay in the Lavra if they were transferred to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). Previously, the rector of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel, said the monks “do not intend to be expelled and will not be.” The UOC also urged believers to defend Kiev-Pechersk Lavra by all legal means.
On March 28, in Ivano-Frankivsk, about two hundred masked and camouflaged people also forcibly seized the last UOC church in the area, using tear gas against priests and parishioners. As reported in the Chernivtsi-Bukovina diocese, OCU supporters attacked the church. At the same time, the police did not interfere with the actions of the attackers, the diocese noted.
On the morning of March 29, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Patriarch of Moscow announced that it had filed a lawsuit challenging the authorities’ request to vacate Kiev’s Pechersk Lavra. According to Metropolitan Pavlo of the UOC, the petition was filed on March 23, when three judges have already withdrawn. According to the Metropolitan, this indicates that the judges are under pressure.
“I once again call on those in power to stop the pressure on the judges, to stop the pressure on the Lavra, and I want to say that we will not compromise on faith, we will stand until the end. The law is on our side,” he said.
Pavel stressed that the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine and the management of the museum, located in the Lavra, do not have the right to expel the monks from the temple without a court order. “When there is a court decision (a certain time must pass), then the executive power must be (involved), and not the director of the museum or the minister of culture must expel us”, underlined the metropolitan.
As Archpriest Nikita Chekman, a lawyer for the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, clarified, he filed a complaint with the Kiev Economic Court on the inadmissibility of the termination of the UOC’s rental agreement with the Lavra. The lawyer noted that the National Cultural Reserve (also occupies part of the Lavra), which decided to terminate the lease agreement between the UOC and the Lavra due to “violation of the terms of the agreement”, did not explain what those violations were.