MinCult: Ostapenko fired over weak response to "Moscow spirit" in the Lavra
The Minister of Culture stated that “Moscow priests desecrated the Lavra,” and Ostapenko failed to remove UOC monks.
Minister of Culture Mykola Tochytskyi explained on his Facebook page why he dismissed Maksym Ostapenko, head of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve.
According to Tochytskyi, the dismissal was “a response to the weak enforcement” of Law 3894 (on the ban of the UOC – Ed.).
“The Lavra must be free of the Moscow spirit – that should be the top priority of the Reserve’s director. However, despite the Ministry’s support in transferring churches to the OCU, the results of a year’s work do not meet the national security challenges Ukraine is facing,” the minister said.
He added that “Moscow priests desecrated the Lavra, turning it into a place for peddling faith and consumer goods.”
“Unfortunately, the expected changes to free the Lavra from the entrepreneurial spirit of the Moscow Church never took place. The country has no time to wait for the end of illegal trade, unlawful leases, the unchecked presence of Moscow monks, and the further destruction of cultural monuments,” Tochytskyi concluded.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that the Ministry of Culture had dismissed Ostapenko from his post as director of the reserve.
