The head of the OCU praised Zelenskyy for the installation of a bust of Ivan Mazepa at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra

The head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), Epiphanius Dumenko, announced that the installation of a bust of Hetman Ivan Mazepa on the grounds of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra was made possible thanks to the personal support of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and close cooperation with the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance.

The statement was made during a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance. Epiphany described the installation of the monument as a “landmark event” for historical justice. In addition, the leader of the OCU shared plans to further commemorate the hetman: in the future, the authorities intend to erect a monument to Ivan Mazepa in the very center of Kyiv.

In his speech, Epiphanius also touched on the topic of Ukraine’s “spiritual independence.” According to him, for centuries the country had been under an influence that he described as “spiritual occupation.” The head of the OCU emphasized that achieving autocephaly is an important step toward strengthening national identity, and any attempts to use religious institutions to undermine Ukrainian statehood, in his view, are doomed to failure.

As a reminder, we previously reported that a ceremonial unveiling of a bust of Ukrainian hetman Ivan Mazepa took place on the grounds of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called this event an important step toward restoring historical justice.

At the same time, 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 Zaporozhian 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 ravaged by the Swedes. For these actions, Hetman Ivan Mazepa was excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church, and this excommunication remains in effect to this day.