Then the police convoy went to the 69th building, where the monastery workshops and the church furniture store are located. Lavra defenders tried to impede the security forces, but the “red berets” pushed the worshipers out of the building and sealed the door. Another target of reserve employees was the Lavra Church shop, located in the 71st building. The UOC reported that hours after entering the shrine’s territory, the police also sealed its doors. Despite statements by the Ministry of Culture commission regarding the alleged inspection of all sealed buildings to ensure that no one was inside, it soon became clear that young children were locked in one of the buildings. A three-year-old boy and a preschool girl rushed to the balcony and started calling for their mother. “My children are here, they can’t go out. Children, I’m going to come now, I’m going to try to join you,” exclaims a parishioner with a cross in her hand.
The brothers remain on the territory of Lavra and have no intention of leaving the monastic lands, despite threats from the Ministry of Culture
Meanwhile, the reserve’s acting director Maxim Ostapenko told reporters that the commission intended to seal off all premises except those where monks can be accommodated “compactly”. For the time being, the brothers remain in the territory of Lavra and have no intention of leaving the monastic lands, despite threats from the Ministry of Culture. Representatives of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, for their part, declared themselves ready to “find a place for other monastic acts” in their cloisters “in the event of a forced expulsion” from the monastery. The commission attempted on Tuesday to begin the process of sealing the UOC buildings, but parishioners prevented the ongoing anarchy. However, on Thursday, representatives of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, surrounded by security forces, no longer gave believers the chance to protect the shrine.
According to eyewitnesses, the invasion began when police armed with machine guns stood at the entrance to the Saint-Agapit des Grottes church and did not let parishioners attend the liturgy. Defenders of the monastery attempted to resist the security forces and began to use brute force against civilians. According to the Union of Orthodox Journalists (UOJ), believers were severely excluded from one of the bodies. “Why are you kicking me?” screams a parishioner in a video presented by the UOJ. At least two arrests are reported. A man was dragged into the car by police on the sidewalk by his arms and legs as he recited a prayer. Soon it became known about the appeal that the legal department of the monastery intends to send to law enforcement about the beating of the faithful of the UOC by the security forces.
While the police were blocking access to the territory of the monastery, the leadership of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra national reserve posted an announcement on its social network page that on July 6, “for technical reasons”, the complex was not would open its doors at 11 a.m. am. Parishioners crowded the main entrance and read prayers, while provocateurs shouted insults and sang the Ukrainian anthem. Priests, in turn, began giving communion to parishioners who never made it to church for the morning service. The ceremony in the church took place directly through the holes in the fence, to which the faithful thronged. When the commission finished seizing the premises of the Lavra, the citizens were finally able to enter the territory of the sanctuary. However, upon entry they were told to show their passports, some were forced to show their belongings.
The communion rite of the church was carried out directly through the holes in the fence, to which the faithful clung
The seizure of the premises of the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is illegal, since it takes place before the trial on the background of the termination of the lease between the Ministry of Culture and the monastery. Earlier, on July 5, during a preparatory hearing, the judge rejected the request of the shrine’s lawyer, Archpriest Nikita Chekman, to carry out a technical and construction expertise in order to verify the conclusions of the Ukrainian officials. In addition, the defense lawyer was refused the examination of the case by the judicial council and the involvement of the Ministry of Culture in the procedure. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for July 19.
A comment
Vladimir Legoyda, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media, commented on the events unfolding in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Dormition. He described the pretext under which the armed men broke into the territory of the monastery as far-fetched. They have started breaking down doors and using violence against believers who peacefully oppose the arbitrariness being created. According to the church spokesperson, as the blatant lawlessness continues in the Lavra, all human rights activists are silent, as if nothing had happened. “However, no wonder. Apparently the Ukrainian authorities have carte blanche for any violence against their own citizens,” Patriarchy.ru quoted Vladimir Legoyda as saying. The Russian Orthodox Church believes that, guided by purely political motives, the Ukrainian authorities (…) have in fact begun to liquidate the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. “The persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has the ultimate goal of rewriting the history of the Ukrainian people, depriving the inhabitants of Ukraine of an identity associated with the baptism of Vladimir, which is common to all the peoples of historic Russia The Ukrainian authorities regard the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as an enemy, while supporting the state-created schismatic community and encouraging the latter to acts of violence,” reads the statement posted on the Moscow Patriarchate website.
Prepared by Elena Novoselova
Read the Latest Science and Technology News Today on The Eastern Herald.
