Most of Lavra is still controlled by the UOC - Lotysh

Avrahamiy Lotysh, an employee of the Kyiv Cave Monastery National Reserve and, at the same time, the abbot of the Kyiv Cave Monastery of the OCU, said that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church still controls most of the Holy Dormition Kyiv Cave Monastery. He claims that litigation prevents the OCU from fully utilizing the monastery for its needs. He spoke about this in an interview with the Pryamyy TV channel.

“In fact, the majority still controls the UOC-MP, and the explanation is that until there are final court decisions, they have the opportunity to use all the churches on the territory of the Lower Lavra. We rent the Upper Lavra, the Assumption Church, and the Refectory Church for a few hours to hold services. The explanation is that until the Lavra is completely liberated from the Moscow Patriarchate, and certain court decisions are pending, there is no such mechanism to conclude an agreement with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Although I think it is necessary, at least even on the territory of the Upper Lavra,” — said Lotysh.

As reported, the Ukrainian edition of Gazeta.ua published a report on the life of the OCU monks on the territory of the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. It is reported that representatives of the OCU, in the number of “about ten people,” live in the former residence of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which the state took away from the UOC. A young man named “Abbot Vasyl” gave the publication a tour of the stolen premises of the Lavra.