MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/. The legal department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) will challenge in court the government’s decision to terminate the lease agreement of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the UOC press service has reported.
"The decision is groundless and illegal, because it is politically motivated in essence. In any way, it will be challenged in court," the religious organization’s information department said in a statement.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian cabinet canceled a decree of 2013 that transferred Lavra facilities to the UOC. On March 10, the management of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra museum announced the termination of the indefinite lease agreement with the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and ordered the monks of the UOC to leave the monastery by March 30. Metropolitan Pavel, the rector of the Lavra, stated that the monastery was transferred to the UOC by the order of the government, so the museum and the Ministry of Culture cannot decide on the use of its facilities by the canonical church.
On Thursday morning, numerous journalists gathered in the Lavra and filmed some footage. The monastery, as usual, held a morning service. The commission of the Ministry of Culture, which arrived to take stock of the Lavra’s assets, was not allowed to proceed by parishioners. As a result, the Kiev police started an investigation into obstructing the work of journalists in the Lavra, and the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Museum asked the police to open a criminal case into a crime provided for in a Penal Code article about the seizure of property, on account that the ministry’s commission was prevented from taking inventory of the assets.