At the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, representatives of the OCU held memorial services in honor of Ivan Mazepa

On Sunday, the Feast of All Saints, representatives of the OCU held a memorial service in honor of Hetman Ivan Mazepa at the Church of All Saints in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, which had been seized from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

According to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve, the events were led by Avraam Lotysh, an employee of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve and, concurrently, the deputy abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery of the OCU, Avraam Lotysh. During the requiem, it was noted that “the Imperial Church of Moscow had excommunicated the hetman in his time for his refusal to submit to Moscow, yet none of the Ukrainian churches ever recognized this decision.” According to Lotysh, over the centuries, Ukrainians around the world have allegedly continued to pray for the repose of Mazepa’s soul, recognizing his contribution to statehood and culture.

It is worth noting that Ivan Mazepa remains a controversial historical figure, since in 1708, during the events of the Great Northern War between the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Sweden, he, as hetman of the Zaporizhian Host, betrayed Russian Tsar Peter I by defecting to the side of Swedish King Charles XII. As a result of Mazepa’s decision, many churches on the territory of present-day Ukraine were destroyed by the Swedes. For these actions , Hetman Ivan Mazepa was excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church, a penalty that remains in effect to this day.