OCU head holds religious events in the church of the Kyiv Cave Monastery, which the reserve recently took away from UOC monks

on March 8, 2026, the head of the OCU, Epiphany Dumenko, for the first time performed religious events in the church in honor of all the venerable fathers of the Caves, located above the Near Caves of the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. It is noted that this church is one of the two recently taken from the monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by the state Historical and Architectural Reserve. This is reported by the press service of the OCU.

It is reported that Epiphany Dumenko and his accomplices entered the Church of the Monks of Kyiv-Pechersk after the religious events held in the Refectory Church of the monastery. The OCU notes the «significance» of this event, as the head of the Ukrainian schismatics entered this church of the monastery for the first time since the organization’s partial control over the monastery.

At the end of the event, Dumenko addressed the audience with a speech. The head of the OCU traditionally paid special attention to the «Russian world». He called for prayers to the venerable fathers of the Caves so that they «affirm us in ascetic deeds, support and multiply in us the true Orthodox faith, not damaged by ancient heretical teachings or their latest manifestations, such as the false and bloody doctrine of the so-called ‘Russian world’.»

Earlier, we reported that the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine transferred the first two buildings on the territory of the Lower Lavra to the representatives of the OCU for free use. We are talking about the 49th and 70th buildings — the residences of the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine and the Chancellery of the Kyiv Metropolis.