The Kyiv City Council has transferred land parcels, on which the monastery is located, to the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra." This move aims to fully protect and oversee the globally significant monuments listed by UNESCO, according to a statement from the reserve's press service, as reported by spzh.news.
The press service emphasizes that the decision of the Kyiv City Council will enable the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" to take full control over these monuments, which have been legally undefined for over 30 years. Only now, after the canonical Ukrainian Church was deprived of the right to use the monastery buildings, have the authorities decided to formalize the transfer of land to the museum.
The Lavra brethren continue to defend their right to serve in the monastery churches. The case has been under consideration in the appellate court for many months. In 2023, the canonical Church was deprived of the right to use the main cathedral of the Lavra - the Dormition Cathedral. Now, services of the schismatic OCU are held there on major holidays, while believers of the canonical Church pray in the small сhurch of St. Agapitus of Pechersk.
Until 2022, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra housed both a museum-reserve and the main monastery of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Historically, the Lavra was the residence of the Kyiv Metropolitan and a spiritual academy. The Lavra's buildings and churches were legally owned by the state and leased to the Church. In 2023, Ukrainian authorities did not renew the lease agreement and demanded that the monks and clergy of the canonical Church vacate the monastery. The Lavra's abbot, Metropolitan Pavel (Lebed), was placed under house arrest on charges of inciting religious hatred. Hierarchs of Local Orthodox Churches from around the world have repeatedly spoken out in defense of the Lavra monks.
Believers of the UOC have launched a campaign to defend their sanctuary: they have organized prayer vigils, appealed to the courts, barricaded themselves in buildings, and refused to leave. People still gather for prayer vigils in the main square of the monastery, despite the cold weather. The Lavra should be a sanctuary, not a museum, say participants of the prayer vigils.
...