Kiev, March 29, 2023
Photo: pomisna.info
The schismatics of the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” have said many times that they want to take not only the Kiev Caves Lavra, but also the Pochaev Lavra away from the Orthodox Church.
Ukrainian nationalists have been trying to seize the Lavras for years, but with the state’s increased persecution of the Kiev monastery over the past few months (culminating in the order for the monks to leave today), both local authorities and the schismatics are taking more concrete steps towards seizing the Pochaev monastery as well.
If the Lavra in Kiev is the holiest and most important site in all of Ukraine, then the Lavra in Pochaev is the second-most holy and important site.
Authorities are calling for Parliament to kick the Church out of its home in Pochaev, they have initiated searches of the monastery looking for “collaborators,” and they have created a commission that openly declares its intention is not so much to conduct a legal examination of the territory (the Pochaev Lavra is also state owned, like its counterpart in Kiev), but to find a reason to kick the Church out.
Over the weekend, pilgrims were prevented from reaching the monastery, and their buses were confiscated.
And yesterday, the Synod of the Bishops of the schismatic OCU created its own legal entity dubbed the “Pochaev Lavra,” as reported on the organization’s official site.
This mirrors the steps taken concerning the Kiev Caves Lavra. Last May, the schismatics created their own “Kiev Caves Lavra,” and in December, it was registered at an address just across the street from the real Lavra. In January, the schismatics first served in the real Lavra, and now that the state intends to evict Orthodoxy from the monastery, the schismatics are again asking for part of the territory to be transferred to them.
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