Minsk, July 5, 2023
Photo: church.by
The Holy Synod of the Belarusian Orthodox Church issued a statement yesterday, decrying the situation around the Kiev Caves Lavra and the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The Synod especially responded to news reports from late last month that UNESCO and the Ukrainian authorities had reached an agreement to export relics from the Kiev Caves Lavra to Western museums, supposedly to preserve them in the time of war.
At the same time, as OrthoChristian reported last month, UNESCO spokesman Tom Mallar told RIA-Novosti that UNESCO has not been involved in any such agreement.
The Belarusian Synod also addresses the possibility that the monks will be finally evicted from the Lavra, offering them to continue their ascetic life in Belarusian monasteries, if need be.
The Synod’s statement reads:
It is with deep sorrow that the Synod of the Belarusian Orthodox Church receives the news about the events taking place at the Kiev Caves Lavra.
Despite the protests of tens of thousands of believers and condemnation from the international community, the Ukrainian authorities continue their treacherous encroachments on the great holy site for all Orthodox believers, continuing godless attempts to ruin the cradle of the Orthodox faith of the Eastern Slavic peoples.
For several months, the vicar of the Kiev Caves Lavra, His Eminence Metropolitan Pavel (Lebed), has been under arrest on far-fetched charges. The clergy of the Lavra are deprived of the opportunity to celebrate the Divine Liturgy and other Divine services, and its inhabitants and numerous believers of the opportunity to freely pray in the cathedral churches of the monastery. Illegal actions are regularly committed against clerics and laity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, aggravating the current situation.
At the end of June 2023, information was widely publicized in the media that the Kiev city authorities, under the plausible pretext of “saving” cultural values from Russian missile strikes, plan to export especially revered treasures of the Orthodox Church from the Kiev Caves Lavra: holy relics and ancient icons with the aim of their subsequent transfer “for preservation” to museums in Italy, France, Germany and the Vatican. At the same time, the leadership of the country and the Ukrainian capital does not take into account the opinion of Orthodox believers, and their concern during the “inventory” of the relics of the Kiev Caves Lavra held on the eve was lulled by false promises that the spiritual, historical, and cultural values of the Ukrainian people would never leave the territory of Ukraine.
If these plans directed against Orthodoxy are realized, the Holy Church and the Ukrainian people may lose the spiritual support and consolation necessary in such a difficult time, which people find in prayer at the venerated Lavra icons and holy relics of the saints of God, resting in the temples and caves of this ancient monastery. There is also a great danger that the shrines may be damaged or completely lost as a result of transportation. We are particularly saddened by the fear that icons and relics of holy ascetics dear to the heart of every believer may end up in museum collections or even in private collections of people who are often far from faith and piety, thereby repeating the tragic fate of our Belarusian relic—the cross of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk.
Another order of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine to the inhabitants of the Kiev Caves Lavra to leave the monastery, with a high probability of expulsion of monastics from the Lavra, is also a violation of the law, a demonstrative act of disregard for universal values and the rights of the faithful.
The Synod of the Belarusian Orthodox Church expressed its position in connection with the events taking place in Ukraine and in the Kiev Caves Lavra in an official address dated March 28, 2023. The members of the Synod, on behalf of the clergy, monastics, and laity of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, once again strongly condemn the actions of the authorities of Ukraine and the city of Kiev, which continue to be committed against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Kiev Caves Lavra, its vicar and brethren, clergy and laity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, contrary to Ukrainian legislation and universal moral law.
Expressing support for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in this difficult time, we call on the Ukrainian authorities to prevent the export of Church relics and sacred items that have been within the walls of the Kiev Caves Lavra for centuries and are a spiritual support for all Slavic peoples. We oppose the expulsion of the brethren of the Kiev Caves Lavra from the monastery, where they have been struggling for decades in pleasing God and praying for the benefit of the Ukrainian people.
The Synod of the Belarusian Orthodox Church testifies that in case of the forcible eviction of the monks from the Kiev Caves Lavra, they can find a place for further monastic labors in the monasteries of the Belarusian Orthodox Church.
We call on all the children of the Belarusian Orthodox Church to strengthen their prayers for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its children.
With deep empathy for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, its archpastors, clergy, monastics and all its faithful children,
SYNOD OF THE BELARUSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
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