President responds to petition on transfer of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra to OCU

Vladimir Zelensky, President of Ukraine. Photo: biz.censor.net.ua

On May 22, 2020, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky published on the website of the Official Internet Office of the President of Ukraine a response to the petition posted there on April 15 to transfer the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra to the OCU.

The head of state said that he had considered the petition, which was signed by more than 25,000 citizens. He also recalled the second part of Article 19 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which requires the authorities and local self-government to act only within the powers and in the manner prescribed by law.

Zelensky drew the attention of the authors of the petition on the transfer of the Lavra and those who signed it to the fact that state property is managed by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

“In accordance with Paragraph 5 of Article 116 of the Basic Law of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine manages state-owned property under the law,” the President wrote.

Zelensky also reminded that they can read about the powers of the Cabinet of Ministers “in the field of economics regarding the implementation of the management of the state-owned property in accordance with the law” in the Law of Ukraine “On the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine” (Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Article 20).

The head of state drew the attention of those who submitted and signed the petition to Paragraph 1 of Article 5 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Management of State Property Objects”, which states: “The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is the subject of management determining objects of management of state-owned property concerning which performs functions on management and also objects of management of state-owned property, powers by the management of which are transferred to other subjects of control determined by this Law.”

Earlier, the Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine stressed that no petition could decide the fate of the Lavra.

Later, Deputy Head of the UOC DECR, Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, urged believers to sign a petition in defense of the Kyiv Lavra.

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