Ukrainian gov’t posts petition to take Kiev Caves Lavra away from Ukrainian Church

Kiev, September 13, 2018

Photo: spzh.news

The negative effects of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s incursion into Ukrainian Church territory and its declared intentions to grant autocephaly at the request of Ukrainian politicians and schismatics are already being felt.

Now that Constantinople has appointed exarch bishops in Kiev, the Ukrainian government has again raised the issue of taking the Kiev Caves Lavra away from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. A petition has been registered and hosted on the website of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers demanding to cancel the transferal of the Kiev Caves Lavra to the free use of the Church, which took place in July, 2013, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists.

The petition, filed on Monday, demands “the cancelation of order № 519-р of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers on July 11, 2013 on the transfer of 79 buildings and structures of the Holy Dormition-Kiev Caves Lavra (men’s monastery) to the free use of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and to return the buildings and structures to state ownership.”

As of this morning, the petition has gathered 1,695 of the necessary 25,000 signatures.

In April, Ukrainian radicals also called for the state to cancel the 2003 transfer of the Pochaev Lavra to the Church. The various radical groups also continuously harass and intimidate the deputies of the Pochaev city council to prevent it from allocating a plot of land to the Lavra to be used to build housing for the brethren of the monastery.

“Patriarch” Philaret Denisenko of the schismatic “Kiev Patriarchate,” who dreams of becoming the patriarch of a united autocephalous Ukrainian Church, has repeatedly stated that the Kiev Caves and Pochaev Lavras should be transferred to his jurisdiction. He and his nationalist backers claim the canonical Ukrainian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is a danger to Ukrainian national security.

The Union of Orthodox Journalists also reported on Monday that Philaret had met with the acting director of Kiev Caves Lavra Museum-Reserve Alexander Rudnik, demanding to transfer the 19th building to the “Kiev Patriarchate.” He insisted that it be done soon.

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