Metropolitan Clement: The demand to vacate Lavra is illegal
Clement (Vecheria), the head of the Synodal Information and Education Department of the UOC, stated that there are no legal grounds for the eviction of the UOC from the Lavra.
On March 10, 2023, Clement (Vecheria) commented on the demand by the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" to vacate the territory of the Lavra by March 29, 2023.
In an interview with "Strana", Clement stated that "the leadership of the Reserve sent an ultimatum, in which, without any explanation, it declared the termination of the lease agreement and demanded that we vacate the monastery".
He stated that "such demands have nothing to do with the legislation of Ukraine," and the UOC cannot be evicted from the monastery "because there are no legal grounds for this".
The bishop also noted that "it is unclear on what basis we should hand over the material values and cultural heritage that were revived and preserved by the monks".
"On what basis should we hand it over to people who have nothing to do with it? They did not create or reconstruct it but only destroyed it in previous years and now want to take it away from us," emphasized Metropolitan Clement.
As reported, the UOC is being expelled from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
