About 200 monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) residing in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra monastery have been given three days to leave.
Oleksandr Vladyslavovych Tkachenko, Ukraine’s Minister of Culture and Information Policy, posted on Telegram that the ministry had officially transferred the monastery, or “state property for use by the Reserve.”
“Today, representatives of the Monastery refused to accept the Act of acceptance and transfer of state property through the office,” the post read, also adding, “This is a truly historic decision and a difficult task – but the Lavra must be Ukrainian, and it returns to the state.”
Reporting from RT:
Technically, the monastery belongs to the Ukrainian government as a historical preserve, but was granted to the UOC to use under a 2013 agreement. However, Kiev announced earlier this year that it had unilaterally terminated the lease agreement, accusing the UOC of unspecified violations, of being pro-Russian, and of being a threat to the security and spirituality of the country. The church had already formally severed its ties to Moscow and officially condemned Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
