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Key cleric of Kiev’s historic monastery hopes believers will prevent its seizure

On October 11, the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople decided to proceed with granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church

Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Piotr Sivkov/TASS

Kiev-Pechersk Lavra

© Piotr Sivkov/TASS

MOSCOW, October 30. /TASS/. Father Superior of one of the best-known Orthodox Christian monasteries, the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (the Monastery of the Caves), Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl, has said that he hoped that believers would be able to protect the monastery, even if Constantinople created a new autocephalous church in Ukraine.

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"They (nationalists and schismatics - TASS) have tried to seize the monastery for 25 years now," His Eminence Metropolitan Pavel who arrived in Moscow to take part in the festival of Orthodox media, told TASS on Tuesday. "However, we have thwarted these attempts by the grace of God, because God is not in might but in right. Regimes change, but the Church goes on its own way, saving believers and leading unbelievers to Christ. That’s why one should not be afraid of anything now. We need to strengthen our prayers, while believers should forget all offenses and unite."

According to the metropolitan, the monastery has received threats of attacks on numerous occasions, and they continue to come in. In particular, there were such threats at Christmas 2018. Besides, head of the self-proclaimed Kiev Patriarchate Filaret has likewise called for the monastery to be seized from Ukraine’s canonical church.

"People of this ilk, both from political and nationalist movements, poured in. However, we have nothing to fear, for we are the people of Ukraine, we are the church of Ukraine. What they are trying to persuade us of in the wake of Constantinople’s actions is an attempt to divide people for the sake of some political motives," he stressed.

Part of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is currently under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s constituency of the Moscow Patriarchate, and another part is under the jurisdiction of the National Kiev-Pechersk Historical Cultural Preserve. Last week, Filaret said that, sooner or later, all monasteries in Ukraine would be under the jurisdiction of the breakaway Ukrainian church.

Ukraine’s church crisis

On October 11, the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople decided to proceed with granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church. It revoked the 1686 decision on transferring the Kiev Metropolitanate under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate and announced plans to bring it back under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. It also reinstated the heads of two non-canonical churches in Ukraine, Filaret of the Kiev Patriarchate and Makariy of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church, to their hierarchical and priestly ranks.

On October 15, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church said in response to that move that full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was no longer possible.

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