Dumenko called on the monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra to join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine

Epiphany Dumenko appealed to the monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, calling on them to join the OCU. According to Dumenko, this does not mean closing the monastery or ending prayer, divine services, or monastic life. He said it is about “freeing the Lavra from the influence of the Moscow Patriarchate.”

According to the OCU’s press service, Dumenko’s appeal was prompted by recent events surrounding the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. In his statement, he called comparisons of the current situation to the Soviet authorities’ persecution of the Church and previous closures of the monastery unfounded. He noted that for a long time, “the Ukrainian state, society, and the OCU have called on the leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine to finally end its dependence on the Russian ecclesiastical center.” According to him, such ties are used by Russia as “a tool of hybrid aggression against Ukraine.”

Epiphanius also accused the Lavra’s former leadership of turning the monastery, he claimed, into a center for spreading the ideology of the “Russian World.” He emphasized that this ideology, in the OCU’s view, had become “one of the justifications for Russia’s war against Ukraine.”

Dumenko addressed the monastic community of the Lavra with a call for unity, stating that “the OCU respects the monastery’s authentic monastic and liturgical traditions.” He noted that the monastery must remain a place of prayer and spiritual support for society.

The head of the Ukrainian schismatics assured that those monks of the UOC who accept the jurisdiction of the OCU will be able to continue their ministry at the Lavra. He also stated that the monastery’s day-to-day affairs should be managed by representatives of the monastic community who are familiar with the monastery’s traditions and are not associated with the ideology of the “Russian World.”

A separate point in the statement concerned the language of worship: according to Epiphanius, both Old Church Slavonic and modern Ukrainian will be used at the Lavra. He emphasized that he is open to dialogue and sees his goal as preserving and revitalizing the monastery of Saints Anthony and Theodosius.

As a reminder, MaximOstapenko previouslyspoke about the main problems facing the OCU at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The official is convinced that the OCU has too few monks to “revive Ukrainian Orthodox life” at the monastery. Ostapenko cited as an example the period when the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra was under the control of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and had a monastic community ranging from 200 to 500 members.