The ROC condemned the ban on access of students and teachers to the Lavra territory

The Russian Orthodox Church has voiced a strong protest against the expulsion of the Kiev Theological Academy from the walls of the Holy Assumption Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, reports the Moscow Patriarchate Department of the Orthodox Church.

«This lawless decision of the Ukrainian government continues the systematic destruction of the thousand-year-old Kiev-Pechersk monastery and the spiritual, intellectual and cultural-historical tradition associated with it,» the statement reads.

The Moscow Patriarchate Department of the Orthodox Church emphasizes that «future clergymen are deprived of the opportunity to grow spiritually at the ancient Lavra shrines».

«We appeal to international human rights organizations, the world Orthodox scientific and theological community, religious and secular educational institutions around the world with an appeal to speak out in defense of the oldest Orthodox educational institution in Eastern Europe and take possible steps to support it,» the ROC urged.