Regarding the pressure put on the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra leaders amid the Great Lent
In the last days of March and early April, the campaign to seize the pearl of Orthodoxy – the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra – waged by the current Kiev regime and the so-called Orthodox Church of Ukraine, a schismatic and non-canonical church controlled by current regime authorities, reached a decisive stage. On April 1 of this year, the abbot of the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Paul, was put under house arrest, while neo-Nazi activists began to arrive at the monastery, mocking the divine services and attempts by the brethren and other people praying at the monastery to preserve the Lavra in the bosom of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
This move was long in the making. Attempts to seize the Lavra intensified after the Maidan coup in Kiev in 2014. Nearly always such efforts included the most active neo-Nazis acting at the behest of their Kiev regime masters.
In Fall 2022, the SBU security service launched a campaign to open criminal cases against the clergy of the monastery, while the executive branch began to make illegitimate decisions aimed at seizing the Lavra. In particular, on December 2, 2022, Vladimir Zelensky signed an order «On certain aspects of the activity of religious organisations in Ukraine and the application of targeted special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions)», and the Unified State Register of Ukraine logged a new legal entity – the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra OCU. Those were preliminary steps towards removing the premises of the Lavra from the indefinite lease by the legitimate church as soon as possible, and transferring them to the schismatics. On January 1 of this year, the Ministry of Culture and its institutions, acting on Vladimir Zelensky’s orders, in violation of the terms of the lease, terminated the indefinite lease agreement. Later, an ultimatum was presented to the monks to vacate the monastery until March 29.
The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is no ordinary monastery. It is the centre of canonical Orthodoxy, as well as one of the oldest Lavras of the ancient Russian state. Founded in the 11th century by St. Anthony of the Caves (a monk from Mount Athos), the monastery quickly became the centre of the spiritual life of ancient Rus. Historically, the monks actually performed a heroic feat – ever since the Lavra was established, every so often, it was captured and ruled by occupiers and invaders. The 20th century was difficult for the monastery. And yet, each time, following ruin and devastation it has always been revived, reemerging as one of the most important centres of spiritual life of all Russia – a confirmation of the place being special, or maybe an active proof of the Miracle and Providence of God.
It speaks volumes that Zelensky and his regime would choose this exact moment to put pressure on the Lavra – the time of the Great Lent. For Orthodox believers, Lent (especially the Great Lent before Easter) has a special meaning and significance. For believers in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other canonical territories of the Orthodox Church, Great Lent is a time of humble prayers for patience and love, when firmness and determination to be faithful to God are tested. The defenders of the Lavra have shown steadfast fidelity of real Christian martyrs. One of the symbols of their feat to defend faith was Yekaterina Yershova, a member of the monastery's choir, praying on her knees while neo-Nazis controlled by the Kiev regime raved and rampaged around her (no other words can describe their actions).
Acting on multiple levels, ecclesiastic and secular authorities have been trying to alert the world’s ecclesiastic and international communities to the fact that civilians have been facing a new cycle of civil rights violations. On March 11, 2023, Patriarch of Moscow and All-Russia Kirill sent messages to the Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches, Pope Francis of Rome, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, OSCE General Secretary and Secretary General of the Council of Europe Helga Maria Schmid and Marija Pejčinović Burić, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, as well as other religious leaders and representatives of international organisations. In these messages, Patriarch Kirill called on them to make every possible effort to prevent the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from being evicted from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. On March 14, 2022, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Bujar Osmani to demand that Kiev stop its arbitrary actions against the canonical Orthodox church and prevent the forced expulsion of the brethren from the monastery. It is quite telling that this did not prompt any resolute response on behalf of these senior executives from international organisations.
The Kiev regime has turned its religious policy into a tool for promoting its neo-Nazi practices. While it has long been known that under Poroshenko before and now and now under Zelensky Russian and global Orthodoxy have been targeted, today’s secular authorities initiated and offered their administrative support to a church schism, which is something that constitutes a grave departure from a tradition for a religious community. They did this by interfering into a sacred dimension for any Orthodox believer. However, the Orthodox are not the only ones to suffer. Representatives of Ukraine’s relatively small Muslim community have been regularly reporting manifestations of Islamophobia. Many of Kiev’s backers have been referring to the Ukrainian President’s so-called Jewish background, which does nothing to promote the peaceful coexistence of religions since acts of Judophobia and antisemitism are reported on a regular basis.
It is an open secret that the Zelensky regime is in no way independent when it comes to its anti-ecclesiastic policies. Creating a schism within Orthodoxy and delivering a blow against this sphere of life has long been Washington’s stated goal. The United States crafted an intricate mechanism for influencing the religious aspects of Kiev’s policy, both directly and indirectly, by appointing a “special representative for freedom of religion.” There is also the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, and annual reports on this matter. It is for this reason that the outrage currently underway at the Lavra, as well as across other churches and monasteries in Ukraine, constitutes an intentional effort to incite religious hatred. A Washington henchman, Ukraine’s current President calls himself a Jew and a defender of religious freedoms. He understands the extent to which he depends on the United States. He adopted an anti-Orthodox policy at the instructions of the Americans, who have an anti-Russia agenda, and have once again used the Ukrainian administration as a mere tool for achieving their goals.
Still, even for the current Kiev authorities seizing the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is illegitimate in terms of law and immoral from a spiritual perspective. It demonstrates better than many other steps the regime has taken or its rhetoric its criminal nature and readiness to turn a blind eye to the feelings and, even more importantly, the rights of people, including Ukrainian citizens.