MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. Clergymen from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra monastery have filed a lawsuit with a Ukrainian court to challenge for the right to the monastery, said the monastery’s rector, Metropolitan Pavel of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).
"Dear brothers and sisters, we ask your forgiveness for burdening you with earthly matters during Lent. We would like to invoke our constitutional rights, defend ourselves, you and the holy objects. On March 23, we filed a lawsuit and a third judge has already recused himself. This testifies to the fact that there is pressure, I don’t know from whom, on the right to protect ourselves, on the right of the law," he said in a video published on the Orthodox Ukraine Telegram channel.
"I would like to say that we won’t compromise our faith and we will fight to the bitter end. The law is on our side," he added.
Pavel reiterated that neither the museum, nor the Ministry of Culture has the right to evict the monks without a court order. "When there is a court decision, after some time has passed, then it is the executive power and not the museum's director or the minister of culture who can evict us," he said.
On March 10, the directorate of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Reserve announced the termination of the open-ended lease agreement with the UOC’s Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and instructed the monks to vacate the premises by March 29. Metropolitan Pavel branded these actions as illegal and said that the monks refused to leave the monastery.
On Wednesday morning, Deputy Director General for Research of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Reserve Konstantin Kraynik said that the UOC’s priests and monks have to leave the Lavra by 11:59 p.m. (same time as Moscow’s). More than one thousand UOC parishioners have congregated for services at the Lavra since early morning.
The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is one of Russia's first monasteries and is the oldest monastery in modern-day Ukraine. It was founded in the 11th century. Currently, the monastery's territory covers over 20 hectares.