Pantheon Instead of Monastery: For Whom the Authorities "Opened" the Far Caves of the Lavra
The authorities solemnly "opened" the Far Caves, which they themselves had closed three years ago. Is prayer life being restored? No, a different fate has been prepared for the Lavra.
On July 14, 2026, the authorities "opened" the Far Caves of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Officials and church figures gathered for the ceremony: Minister of Culture Tetiana Berezhna, director of the reserve Maksym Ostapenko, head of the Institute of National Memory Oleksandr Alferov, deputies Mykyta Poturayev and Mykola Knyazhytsky, and from the OCU — its head Serhiy Dumenko and Avraamiy Lotysh, accompanied by Athonite Archimandrite Bartholomew and several monks.
This photograph, taken during the "opening," very accurately conveys what is happening to the Lavra today.
At the center of the Church of the Conception of St. Anne stands Serhiy Dumenko. Around him — officials, deputies, photographers. No monks. No faithful. They are not needed: none of this was arranged for religious life. And this is not sarcasm — the participants themselves say so.
Tetiana Berezhna announced that the state is "returning the Lavra to its historical Ukrainian context" and that the Lavra should be a place where people feel themselves part of "Ukrainian cultural, religious, and state tradition." On the official website of the Ministry of Culture, the Lavra is called "a center of Ukrainian state-building."
Serhiy Dumenko called for developing the Lavra "as a Ukrainian and pan-Christian shrine," eradicating from it "the spirit of the Russian world," and praying for the Ukrainian state and its armed forces.
If the Lavra was formerly an active monastery that lived primarily through prayer and divine services, it is now being repurposed into an element of state-building.
Who Closed the Caves That Are Now Being Solemnly "Opened"?
The head of the Institute of National Memory, Oleksandr Alferov, stated that under the UOC the Caves "had for a long time been effectively closed to a significant part of Ukrainian society." But what part of Ukrainian society did the UOC close the Caves to? Who exactly was the UOC not letting in?
This is a lie. While the monastic community of the UOC lived in the Lavra, everyone was admitted to the Caves: Orthodox and Catholics, citizens of Ukraine and foreigners, believers and non-believers — without distinction of nationality or conviction. There was only one thing absent from the Caves — political agitation. But there was prayer, the Eucharist, and veneration of the saints.
All of this came to an end on August 10, 2023, when the administration of the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" suddenly announced the closure of the Lower Lavra to everyone except monks, clergy, and monastery staff. The Ministry of Culture at the time called this measure "temporary."
The "temporary measure" has now lasted nearly three years. All this time, the faithful have been unable to freely access the Caves, venerate the relics of the saints, or visit the holy springs.
Particularly telling is Oleksandr Alferov's statement that "the return of the caves to the full control of the National Reserve took place through lawful means — through state decisions, inspections, and court proceedings."
These words might suggest that the courts supposedly established the unlawfulness of the Caves' previous status, ordered their transfer to the reserve, and then directed that they be opened to citizens. However, none of this is the case. The legal disputes between the monastery and the reserve are far from resolved. Moreover, on June 25, 2026, the Northern Commercial Court of Appeal suspended proceedings in the case concerning the Lower Lavra.
What the "Opening" of the Caves Means in Practice
On February 24, 2026, the authorities with equal fanfare announced the "opening" of the Near Caves. The same Tetiana Berezhna, Maksym Ostapenko, and Oleksandr Alferov participated in the event. But behind the attractive façade lay a not-so-attractive reality: visits were permitted only from Wednesday to Sunday, only from 9:00 to 11:00, only by prior registration, and only in groups of ten people.
What this actually looked like was described by a UOJ correspondent after visiting the Near Caves. The group was met by OCU representatives and a reserve employee. The visitors were then led through the Upper and Lower Lavra, with every step monitored. Inside the Caves, visitors were shown only a small section before being immediately led back outside. The entire excursion through the Lavra lasted exactly 30 minutes, of which approximately 7–10 minutes were spent in the Caves themselves.
The visiting regime for the Far Caves is no better. According to the official announcement from the Ministry of Culture and the OCU, until August 15 the Caves may be visited only on Fridays and Sundays from 9:00 to 12:00. Visitors will be admitted in groups of up to 12 people — by prior registration or in order of a live queue. From August 16, the authorities promise to admit tourists to the Caves.
Of course, even such an opportunity to pray to the Pechersk saints and venerate their relics is better than a complete ban. But compared to the freedom of access that existed under the UOC, the current regime is a mockery of the faithful. This is not pilgrimage or veneration of a shrine. It is rationed access to a museum object — nothing more.
Athonite Monks for a Ukrainian Show
A separate element of the "opening" ceremony of the Far Caves was the presence of several monks from the community commonly known as New Esphigmenou. This is a small monastic community established in 2005 as an alternative to the "old" Esphigmenou, whose brotherhood accused Patriarch Bartholomew of ecumenism and refused to commemorate him during divine services.
Archbishop Iona (Cherepanov) wrote on Facebook: the visiting Athonites cannot fail to know that the Lavra has its rightful owners — the true and numerous brotherhood of the UOC, which has always prayed within these walls. It is from them that churches and buildings are being taken away today, and their parishioners are being deprived of free access to the shrines.
It was precisely these monks who restored the Lavra from ruins, cared for the churches, and received pilgrims — and in the end found themselves unwanted by the "new Lavra." A monastic brotherhood is of no use to a national pantheon, but a beautiful backdrop of ostensibly Athonite support is — and that is exactly what the abbot of New Esphigmenou provided.
From an Active Monastery to a National Pantheon
On the same day, July 14, 2026, Serhiy Dumenko participated in the unveiling of a memorial sign to Ivan Mazepa on the territory of the Lavra and warmly supported the creation of a National Pantheon. According to him, the state should repatriate the remains of historical figures buried abroad and reinter them in a specially created pantheon. He also proposed that the memory of contemporary Ukrainian servicemen be perpetuated there.
An interesting scheme emerges: in essence, the authorities, together with the OCU and other "approved" confessions, are attempting to create something like alternative "caves." And their logic runs as follows: people venerate the saints — so let them also venerate our "pantheon heroes."
The Lavra is a holy place, and it appears that is precisely why it was chosen as the platform for a new state ideology — virtually a religion — complete with its own heroes, mythology, monuments, pantheon, and a religious structure intended to "sanctify" it all. That structure is the OCU. Its role in the construction is simple: to provide ecclesiastical sanction for the veneration of "approved" figures from history.
All of This Has Happened Before
Yes, all of this has happened before. And not so long ago — a mere hundred years back. In exactly the same way, the Bolsheviks closed lavras and monasteries and expelled monks. In exactly the same way, they attempted to impose on the people a cult of revolution and Soviet power in place of Orthodoxy. In exactly the same way, they established a pantheon of "heroes": Lenin, Stalin, Kirov, Dzerzhinsky, and so on. Some of them even openly "reposed in relics" — not incorrupt ones, to be sure, but embalmed. And these people, guilty of destroying millions of lives, were venerated as saints. There was also a religious organization ready to "sanctify" any initiative of the Soviet authorities — the so-called "Living," or Renovationist, Church.
And all of this happened in the Lavra itself as well. Monks were expelled from it, reserve employees were housed there, the relics of the saints were used as museum exhibits, and foreign delegations were brought there for a pretty picture.
Why does none of the current participants in this performance understand that they are repeating the deeds of the Bolsheviks in exact detail? Why does no one say that, no matter how hard they try, the people will not follow them? Why does no one cry out, like the child in the well-known fairy tale, that "the king is naked"?
The Naked King in a Monastic Mantle
And here one truly recalls Andersen's tale of the naked king.
Everyone is obliged to admire the revival of the Lavra, even as empty churches stand before their eyes. Everyone is obliged to thank the authorities for "opening" the Caves, even though it was the authorities themselves who closed them. Everyone must absorb "genuine Ukrainian spirituality," even though it is nothing more than a state-oriented project.
Let us return to the photograph of the "opening" ceremony of the Far Caves: Serhiy Dumenko, Athonite monks, the Minister of Culture, deputies, a molieben, the caves, state flags, cameras. But where are the people? Where are the faithful who filled the Lavra for decades? They are absent. They were driven out, declared supporters of the "Moscow" Church, "wrong" believers and "wrong" Ukrainians, and denied access to the churches and the Caves.
Very well — but where then are the "right," state-oriented faithful? They are absent too — neither at the "opening" ceremonies nor at other such events. A beautifully packaged state-church project, but within it — emptiness. And that emptiness must be concealed with organized groups, civil servants, invited monks, deputies, photographers, and reserve employees.
Conclusion
But the people of God have not disappeared. They are where the true Church of Christ is. Look at how full the UOC churches are on the most ordinary Sundays! Look at how many people come to pray together with the Primate, His Beatitude Onufriy, with bishops and priests! They come voluntarily — no one compels them or transports them by bus. They come even though they often risk bringing persecution upon themselves. But the people still go where the true Church is.
In 1848, the Eastern Patriarchs published an Encyclical Letter in which it is stated: "The guardian of piety among us is the very body of the Church, that is, the people themselves, who always desire to keep their faith unchanged and in agreement with the faith of their fathers."
The Ukrainian church people preserve the piety of their fathers and "walk not in the counsel of the ungodly." Therefore the outcome is not in doubt: the difficult times will pass, black will be called black and white will be called white, and free prayer will once again resound in the Caves. The Bolsheviks come and go — the Lavra endures. So it was a hundred years ago, and so it shall be now.
