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Key cleric of Kiev’s landmark monastery says SBU accusations part of anti-church campaign

On December 5, President Poroshenko announced that the so-called unification council to create the Ukrainian autocephalous church independent of the Moscow Patriarchate would take place on December 15

Father Superior of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel Department of Information and Education of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church/TASS

Father Superior of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel

© Department of Information and Education of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church/TASS

KIEV, December 14. /TASS/. Abbot of the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (Monastery of the Caves), Metropolitan Paul, has called accusations against him of organizing protests aimed at disrupting the "unification" council by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) a well-planned action against the church.

"The event, which took place in recent days, was a well-planned action. These people are against the church and against me personally, as they are telling lies. <…> No one phoned me, no one warned that there would be such a meeting, that we should organize a rally with some posters," he told the 112 Ukraine TV channel. "Let me say once again: that was a planned action against our church."

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On December 13, Ukraine’s Security Service said it would interrogate Abbot of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Metropolitan Paul who is suspected of organizing protests aimed at derailing the so-called unification council in Ukraine.

The law enforcement agencies’ pressure on members of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church has become increasingly frequent recently. According to Metropolitan Vladimir, Abbot of the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra, one of the most sacred sites in Ukraine, this pressure became apparent after the planned meeting with Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko scheduled for November 13, which never took place.

On November 30, Ukrainian Security Service officers conducted searches in the apartment of Metropolitan Paul, Abbot of Kiev Pechersk Lavra, saying that these investigative actions were part of a criminal case on inciting inter-confessional strife.

On December 3, news came that that the SBU was interrogating about 20 clergymen of the UOC’s Rovno and Sarny dioceses (in western Ukraine). The Ukrainian security agencies earlier conducted searches in the Ovruch diocese in Ukraine’s northern Zhitomir Region.

On December 5, Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko announced that the so-called unification council to create the Ukrainian autocephalous church independent of the Moscow Patriarchate would take place on December 15. The council is expected to elect the primate of the new church, who will later be handed the Tomos of Autocephaly.

Poroshenko said that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople had sent letters to bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church "inviting them to take part in that historic event." However, bishops from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), taking a cue from Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine, upon receiving these invitations promptly returned them to their sender.

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