Schismatics will “serve” in Kiev Caves Lavra on Nativity

Kiev, January 4, 2023

pomisna.info pomisna.info     

The unordained schismatics of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” have received permission from the Ukrainian government to “celebrate” the Divine Liturgy in the Kiev Caves Lavra on Saturday, January 7, the feast of the Nativity of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.

The service will be led by “Metropolitan” Epiphany Dumenko, the head of the Ukrainian schismatic organization, in the Holy Dormition Cathedral in the Upper Lavra, reports the OCU’s press service.

The sorrowful news comes just a week after it was announced that the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s lease agreements with the state to use the Dormition Cathedral and the Trapeza Church of Sts. Anthony and Theodosius would not be renewed.

Recall that the schismatics registered their own organization called the “Holy Dormition-Kiev Caves Lavra” at an address across the street from the physical monastery last month.

The last Orthodox service was held in the Trapeza Church on New Year’s Eve. During the service, the faithful began to sing “Christ is Risen!” showing their strength of faith in the face of persecution.

The Kiev Caves Lavra and other holy sites came under state ownership during the Soviet Union, and Ukraine has maintained this practice. The Lavra was never returned to the Church after the fall of the Soviet Union, but is today a state-owned museum.

Viktor Yelensky, the recently appointed head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, said in an interview earlier today that services would continue in the Lavra, but the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (which he continues to insist upon calling the “Moscow Patriarchate,” despite the UOC’s separation from the MP in May), would no longer have a “monopoly.”

Yelensky was appointed after Elena Bogdan, who was known for opposing a ban on the UOC, was fired from the Ethnopolitics Service last month.

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!

1/4/2023

See also
Lavra abbot: Muslims and Catholics treat us better than our own gov’t Lavra abbot: Muslims and Catholics treat us better than our own gov’t Lavra abbot: Muslims and Catholics treat us better than our own gov’t Lavra abbot: Muslims and Catholics treat us better than our own gov’t
Met. Pavel also called on the people to pay no attention to the provocations organized by the police and the Security Service of Ukraine. Presidential decree: Submit bill to ban churches connected to Russia, examine UOC statutes for such connection, check legality of UOC’s presence at Kiev Caves Lavra Presidential decree: Submit bill to ban churches connected to Russia, examine UOC statutes for such connection, check legality of UOC’s presence at Kiev Caves Lavra Presidential decree: Submit bill to ban churches connected to Russia, examine UOC statutes for such connection, check legality of UOC’s presence at Kiev Caves Lavra Presidential decree: Submit bill to ban churches connected to Russia, examine UOC statutes for such connection, check legality of UOC’s presence at Kiev Caves Lavra
The head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics, Elena Bogdan, has warned several times that a ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is ill-advised and would certainly cause destabilization in society. OCU doesn’t need Lavra—they only have 50 monks in all of Kiev, says Ukrainian state official OCU doesn’t need Lavra—they only have 50 monks in all of Kiev, says Ukrainian state official OCU doesn’t need Lavra—they only have 50 monks in all of Kiev, says Ukrainian state official OCU doesn’t need Lavra—they only have 50 monks in all of Kiev, says Ukrainian state official
The UOC’s churches are filled with people, while the OCU’s are far from crowded, the official said.
Comments
m. Cornelia1/10/2023 11:27 pm
Joseph Lipper: The Kiev Caves Lavra is owned by the state as a holdover from Soviet times. Before the godless soviet regime, it of course belonged to the historical Orthodox Church, the continuation of which is the UOC. So, the brothers, who are members of the UOC, should not have to "align" themselves with losing what is theirs--especially since it is the UOC that renovated and rebuilt parts of the Lavra after the fall of communism. And nowhere did Met. Tikhon quote the abbot of the Pskov Caves monastery as saying that Pskov Caves was a "soviet" monastery. If I am misunderstanding you let me know, but however you meant it, "aligning" with the state comes down to losing the Lavra--or at least the main churches.
Joseph Lipper1/10/2023 8:30 pm
The Kiev Caves are owned by the State. So, the monastery has to align itself somehow with this, I suppose similarly as Metropolitan Tikhon Shevkunov wrote in his book about the Pskov Caves Monastery, and how the abbot of that monastery proclaimed it as a Soviet monastery during the Soviet era. Indeed, the Pskov Caves Monastery never closed, and there's no reason why the Kiev Caves Monastery has to close either.
Nikolai1/6/2023 3:22 am
Thank you Pfmd & Alex for your brave open statements. May God save you both.
Alex1/5/2023 3:08 am
The Uniates and Communists both took control of the Lavra in past times from the Orthodox. But through the prayers of the faithful, and the intercessions of the Most Holy Theotokos, everything was eventually restored. Let us hope that history repeats itself! Most Holy Theotokos, save us!
Rdr Daniel1/5/2023 2:19 am
Through the prayers of St Ambrose of Milan, who defended his church from the impious emperor and the heretics and to whom God sent an angel as defender, may the Lord have mercy on the faithful against the schematics and the godless authorities.
Pfmd1/5/2023 1:53 am
Let us hear from our recent American orthodox converts on this site how the OCU has been chosen and elected by the people of Ukraine to represent their Orthodoxy, when the reality is that the OCU is part and parcel of the same neo-nazi regime that staged the Maidan massacre in 2014. The present Ukraine government with their anti-Orthodox agenda of the UOC are the same Neo-nazis and their Jewish supporters who instigated the coup in 2014. The present Ukrainian regime is no different than the Jewish majority government that was in-charge of the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution when millions of Orthodox were murdered for their religious beliefs.
Here you can leave your comment on the present article, not exceeding 4000 characters. All comments will be read by the editors of OrthoChristian.Com.
Enter through FaceBook
Your name:
Your e-mail:
Enter the digits, seen on picture:

Characters remaining: 4000

Subscribe
to our mailing list

* indicates required
×