UOC hierarch: World public opinion must be raised to defend the Lavra

The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is a shrine of world importance, and to protect it from the arbitrariness of the authorities, it is necessary to attract world public opinion, says Metropolitan Varsonofy of Vinnytsia and Bar in a video address.

"Just to evict the monks in ten days like that is lawlessness. We need to mobilize the world community to stand up for the monks," the hierarch said.

"I entered the seminary 30 years ago. I remember what the Lavra was like. And the way it looks now is all done for Ukrainians. It is a shrine for the whole world," the bishop noted.

He also expressed confidence that believers will not allow the Lavra's inhabitants to be expelled.

"I think our believers will not allow Culture Minister Tkachenko to simply evict the monks. And there are many of them. A large number of people came to the holiday of the venerable Kyiv Caves fathers, and these people, of course, will support the monks who will not vacate their monastery because [the authorities] did not provide any legal grounds for the monks to be evicted from the Lavra," the archpastor emphasized.

"I believe and hope that through the prayers of the venerable Kyiv-Pechersk saints, the Lord will help this shrine to remain in our canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church," added Metropolitan Varsonofy.

As reported, Metropolitan Pavel, the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, said that the brethren do not intend to comply with illegal demands to evict them from the monastery.