UOC allegedly sought to make Kyiv Lavra a ROC residence, Ukraine assures UN

Acting Culture Minister Karandeyev at a concert in the Lavra Refectory Church. Photo: FB page of the Reserve

Ministries and agencies of Ukraine responded to the Joint Communication of UN Special Rapporteurs regarding the eviction of UOC monks from the Lavra. The document, published on the UN website, was jointly prepared by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine (MJU), the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy (MCIP), the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the National Police (NP), and the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS).

The document emphasized the "critical importance and necessity" of the National Reserve's access to the Lavra territory. According to the authors, the indefinite agreement with the UOC for free use of the Lavra was terminated due to "numerous violations", including "unauthorized reconstruction, completion, redevelopment of cultural heritage monuments and construction of new buildings on the territory of the Preserve". The authorities identified the UOC Kyiv Metropolis and Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary (KDAiS) as "third-party legal entities" involved.

According to the authors of the document, "the Monastery's leaders repeatedly tried to turn the Lavra into the residence of the leaders of the Russian Church and make it an exclusive monopoly of one religious  community."

The authorities also alleged attempts "to liquidate all museum and monument protection organizations working to protect and preserve the historical and cultural environment of the National Preserve". They complained, "Over the past decades, the activities of some of the UOC (MP) leadership have been aggressively anti-Ukrainian."

Earlier the UOJ wrote that concerns were raised at the UN about the persecution and intimidation of UOC believers.

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