MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) has rejected an ostensible "compromise" proposal by the Ukrainian authorities, under which the head of the UOC, Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev, whose residence is located in the monastery; Metropolitan Pavel, the abbot the monastery; and the Kiev Theological Academy should be the first to leave the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, while the UOC-affiliated monks would be allowed to remain in the cloister on a temporary basis.

"On Tuesday, a letter arrived to the effect that, on March 30, the Church of St. Agapit (one of the churches within the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra complex, currently being used by UOC monks - TASS) would be the first facility to be ‘transferred’ to the state," Metropolitan Pavel said on Wednesday.

Media outlet Ukrainskaya Pravda quotes Metropolitan Pavel as saying that the monks will remain in the monastery until the end of court proceedings under their lawsuit contesting the eviction notice.

"We were offered a 'compromise': Metropolitan Onufry, the seminary, and myself would leave the monastery. I replied, 'One does not come down from the cross; one can only be taken down off of the cross,'" said Metropolitan Pavel. "We have no use for such 'compromises,’" the cleric added.

Metropolitan Pavel said that the Ukrainian authorities intended to dispossess the UOC not only of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, but also of the Pochayev Lavra in the Ternopol Region and other monasteries. "They want to take away our Pochayev Lavra, and then do the same to the convents," he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Metropolitan Pavel said that the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra had asked the Ukrainian authorities to let them remain at the monastery for another month-and-a-half while their lawsuit against the eviction order was being heard in court.

On March 10, an eviction notice from the acting director general of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Historical and Cultural Reserve (subordinate to the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture) was posted to the monastery’s website, stating that monks affiliated with the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church must leave the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra by March 29, when the current lease expires. According to the document, a working group that identified a violation of the lease terms had been created by a decree issued by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.

The UOC clergymen and monks must leave the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, according to Konstantin Krainik, deputy director general for research of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra reserve.