“We hope there will be an OCU monastery there,” - Head of Ternopil Eparchy of OCU on Pochayiv Lavra

The head of the Ternopil Diocese of the OCU, Nestor Pysyk, expects that following the results of the work of the Ministry of Culture’s commission on the territory of the Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra, the state will terminate the lease agreement with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and allow the OCU to move there. Pysyk believes that after the arrival of the OCU to the Pochayiv Lavra, some of the monks of the UOC will continue to remain in the monastery as part of their ranks. He said this in an interview with the publication “Spiritual Greatness of Lviv”.

“They are quiet, there is no movement. An interdepartmental commission from the Ministry of Culture is working, and representatives of the State Historical and Architectural Reserve and the regional department of culture are there. I know that they found a number of violations. Both the regional administration and the Security Service are studying them. All of this is gradually being submitted to the court. As for the position of the Lavra’s leadership, so far there have been no reactions or changes. They take the same position as before,” – said Pysyk.

The head of the Ternopil Diocese of the OCU added that “if everything goes the right way,” his denomination will be able to get the Pochayiv Lavra, expelling the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the monastery. In addition, he expects that some part of the monastic brotherhood will join the OCU and continue to live in the monastery.

“If everything continues in the right way, the violations committed by them will lead to the termination of the lease agreement for the Lavra’s buildings, and the monks of the Moscow Patriarchate will be evicted from the Lavra. We hope that there will be a monastery of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine there. It is likely that at least a small part of those monks will remain and continue their ministry and monastic life. Gradually, new novices will come there and the brethren will be restored in the same number. But it will be completely different in quality,” – Pysyk summarized.

Earlier, the head of the OCU, Epiphany Dumenko, said that he would not allow representatives of the UGCC to perform religious rites and events in the Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra. Dumenko is convinced that the Pochayiv Lavra is an Orthodox shrine, so there is no place for Uniates there.