Lavra abbot: The Refectory and Assumption churches were maintained by brethren’s labors

Metropolitan Pavel (pictured in the center) at a liturgy in the Lavra on the eve of his arrest. Photo: news.church.ua

Speaking about the Kyiv Caves Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshhorod and Chornobyl, who is under house arrest, noted that in 1961, on March 30, the Bolsheviks closed it, and on the same day in 2023, the commission of the Ministry of Culture began its work on the territory of the monastery.

“This is a tragedy for me. When I came to the Lavra, there were dilapidated buildings, basically, there weren’t any at all – only foundations, one survived iconostasis,” recalls the bishop.

The abbot noted that he knows every centimeter of land in the Lavra, because sewerage, water supply, and heating – everything was carried out under his control.

Metropolitan Pavel added that all the maintenance of the Refectory and Assumption churches of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra lay precisely on the shoulders of the brethren.

“There are 220 of us in the Lavra – we did everything, this is an unpaid workforce. They (the Reserve – Ed.) have done nothing, you can see for yourselves that the Refectory Church on the southeast side has begun to fall apart, the plaster is crumbling near the Assumption Church. I wanted to start these works even earlier, but Tkachenko did not allow me to," says the hierarch.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that according to Metropolitan Pavel, the UOC will survive and withstand despite all the efforts of officials.

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