Strike on the Lavra: what will the consequences be?
No one is saying that the strike on the Lavra, the domain of the Mother of God, is an absolutely absurd act beyond all bounds — when the war, having already destroyed hundreds of Orthodox churches, has come to the very heart of our Orthodoxy.
On June 15, a nighttime attack by the Russian Federation on Kyiv resulted in an event that caused enormous resonance throughout the world: the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra — one of the principal shrines of Orthodoxy — was damaged by the strike.
Numerous statements have already followed from various individuals and organizations. In Russia and Ukraine, there are disputes over who is directly responsible for this tragedy. Russians insist that the cathedral was allegedly struck by a malfunctioning Ukrainian air defense missile, while Ukrainian authorities claim it was a deliberate strike by a "Geran" drone. Accordingly, commentators have predictably divided into two camps and are furiously accusing one another.
Religious leaders are also in dispute. The Vicar of the Patriarch, Archbishop Savva (Tutunov), believes that the strike on the Lavra is the fault of "a people who voluntarily renounced the Russian name and the Orthodox faith." He claims that the fire on the roof of the Dormition Cathedral is the same kind of fire that burned in the Odessa House of Trade Unions, and that it "will burn Ukraine as retribution for cruelty, indifference, cowardice, and betrayal."
The authorities and "patriots" of Ukraine, who for many years called the Lavra a "stronghold of the Russian world," have suddenly remembered that it is a Christian shrine. Members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO) see in the strike on the Lavra a reason to demand that Western partners increase sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation. The country's leadership is demanding the same, having already shown photographs of the burning cathedral to Trump and Rubio. Everyone is using this event as an opportunity to advance a narrative favorable to themselves, and a great many who call themselves Christians are calling for "retribution." One of Ukraine's "Orthodox" Telegram channels went so far as to call on the authorities to destroy the "military" Resurrection Cathedral in Moscow.
And no one is saying that the strike on the Lavra — the domain of the Mother of God — represents a beyond-the-pale level of absurdity, a moment when the war, having already destroyed hundreds of Orthodox churches, has come to the very heart of our Orthodoxy. What will happen next? A missile aimed at the caves? The destruction of the relics of the Venerable Saints? What must occur for everyone, without exception, to say: "Enough!"?
Both in Ukraine and in Russia, the end of the war is envisioned as a "just peace." But everyone's notion of "justice" is different, because it is grounded in political calculations.
And in the Gospel, there is no "just peace." There is simply peace. Without any conditions.
