The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, which used to be owned legally by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), has been reregistered as a monastery of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, spokesperson Yevstraty (Zorya) reported.
“In order to right the historic injustice and overcome the consequences of the non-canonical subjection of the Ukrainian shrine to the power of the Moscow Patriarchy of the Holy Synod, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church made a decision to create a religious organisation in the local church, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra men’s monastery of the Holy Dormition, at a meeting on 23 May 2022 (order №30),” he wrote.
On 1 December, the monastery’s charter was registered, the decision was revealed to the public earlier today.
Metropolitan Epiphanius will head the monastery.
Earlier on 2 December, Ukrainian Security Service agents conducted “counterintelligence operations” in religious organisations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) (formally part of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, in May, UOC-MP declared itself to be a fully independent entity — translator’s note) in the Zhytomyr, Rivne, and Zakarpattia regions of Ukraine.
The security service said that “considering Russia’s military aggression” the operations are held to prevent the use of religious places as a cell of the Russian World and to protect people from provocations and terrorist attacks.
