“About ten persons": Media report on the number of OCU monks in Kyiv Caves Monastery

The Ukrainian news and analysis website Gazeta.ua has published a report on the life of the OCU monks on the territory of the Holy Assumption Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. It is reported that representatives of the OCU , who number “about ten people”, live in the former residence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Primate, which the state took away from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The publication’s tour of the stolen Lavra premises was conducted by a young man named “hegumen Vasily”.

“When the Lavra was returned to the subordination of the state, the residence was settled by the servants of the OCU. Now about ten monks and priests live in the cells. Under the wall opposite the doors placed children’s lockers for things. In the former reception room of the Metropolitan now opened a Sunday school”, — stated in the article.

At the same time, one of the representatives of the OCU in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra complained that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church still owns a large number of premises, including the Caves where the relics of the Monks of Kiev-Pechersk rest.

“Until now, not all the buildings of the Lavra are subordinate to the OCU. More than ten premises will be sealed while the trials continue. Previously, more than 200 monks of the Moscow Patriarchate lived on the territory. Now there are no more than 40 of them left here. They are in no hurry to convert to the OCU. And they do not want to leave the territory of the Kievo-Pechersk Lavra. We walk here as neighbors and hear their conversations. Sometimes we get the impression that they are waiting for something. They often say unpleasant things, but I don’t want to recount these words. I do not communicate with them so closely, so I do not know why they refuse to move,” — said the interlocutor to the publication.

We will remind, earlier the speaker of the OCU Evstratiy Zorya expressed hope that the state will be able to finally resolve the issue with the stay of monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the territory of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Zorya believes that the monastic community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has no right to stay on the territory of the monastery.