OCU welcomes dismissal of Ostapenko as head of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Reserve
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) has expressed approval of the dismissal of Maksym Ostapenko from his position as director of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve.
In an official statement published on the OCU website, the Church said it “shares the Ministry of Culture’s concerns” about “the continued baseless presence of representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate jurisdiction in Ukraine in several buildings of the Lavra.”
“The representatives of the MP in Ukraine continue to reside and operate on the territory of the Lavra on unclear grounds. Moreover, these representatives are effectively blocking access for OCU clergy and faithful to the relics and sacred objects kept in the Lavra caves,” the OCU claimed, without clarifying how monks of the UOC could “block” access to the caves, given that the doors to both the Near and Far Caves were already broken open by reserve officials and are currently under the control of a commission from the Ministry of Culture.
The OCU emphasized that its “Lavra abbot,” Avraamy Lotysh, has “repeatedly raised concerns about the normalization of the OCU monastery’s activities in the Lavra and the grounds on which representatives of the MP in Ukraine are occupying part of the Lavra premises and blocking access to the caves.”
“Unfortunately, these issues have long remained unresolved and continue to be so. As a result, the process of cleansing the shrine from the influence of the 'Russian world' is being delayed, giving supporters of this ideology the impression that the MP structures might soon return to the Lavra – especially under the influence of foreign pressure on the Ukrainian state in the context of peace negotiations,” the OCU statement continued.
It will be recalled that earlier, Ostapenko himself had lamented the low attendance at OCU “services” held in the Lavra.
