Russian Orthodox Church: Kiev-Pechersk Lavra governor’s house arrest is lawlessness – Reuters

“I have been under house arrest,” he told reporters. A video with his address was released by the Ukrainian edition of Vesti.The SBU conducts a search of the premises where the metropolitan lives, and the building is cordoned off by the police.The house arrest of Metropolitan Pavel, abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, is anarchy, said Vladimir Legoyda, head of the Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media of the Russian Orthodox Church.”Metropolitan Pavel’s placement under house arrest on outlandish charges is, alas, a natural continuation of the lawlessness committed today by the Ukrainian authorities,” Legioda wrote on his Telegram channel. – Such is the “dialogue” with representatives of the largest Christian denomination in Ukraine… Arguments are over. Or were they not?According to TASS, a source from the security service clarified the qualification of the cases to the Ukrainian edition of Strana today. According to him, the charges were brought under two articles of the Ukrainian Criminal Code – under articles 161 on incitement to inter-religious hatred and 436 on justification of Russian actions in Ukraine. Near the Lavra building, where Metropolitan Pavel lives, there are still several dozen employees of the SBU and the police, access to the building is closed. In addition, law enforcement officers are on duty at the main entrance to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, where about two dozen provocateurs gathered. There are also hundreds of parishioners of the Canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Recall that the situation around the monastery worsened after the monks of the UOC refused to leave the walls of the monastery at the request of the leadership of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra reserve. On March 30, a cultural property security verification commission arrived at the monastery to make an inventory of the property. The lavra’s servants, led by her vicar, Metropolitan Pavel, and the faithful did not let her into the monastery. The same thing happened the next day. On Friday, brawls took place near the walls of the monastery, and reports emerged of a possible assault. Both parties went to court. However, the consideration of the case on the illegal termination of the indefinite lease of the Lavra objects by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is scheduled only for April 26, while the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine , in a lawsuit, demands that the monks immediately leave the walls of the monastery and not interfere with the work of the commission.Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is one of Rus’ earliest monasteries and the oldest monastery in Ukraine, it has been virtually restored from ruins over the past 30 years by those who inhabit it today.