RCC hierarch criticizes cooking show in Kyiv Cave Monastery

The head of the Kyiv-Zhytomyr Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, Vitaliy Kryvytsky, criticized the holding of various shows and performances in the Refectory Church of the Kyiv Cave Monastery. Krivitsky compared what is happening to the times of communist atheism, when churches were turned into museums, warehouses, and other premises for misuse. In addition, he drew attention to the fact that there are still a huge number of Catholic churches in Ukraine that are not used for their intended purpose. He wrote about this on his Facebook account.

“I have a positive attitude to the cuisine and creativity of Mr. Yevhen Klopotenko and have repeatedly treated my foreign guests to 100 Years… (Klopotenko’s restaurant — ed.), but in the case of his cooking show in the Refectory Church, it is no longer about the kitchen, but about a total mix in the understanding of the sacred and traditional. This is why people are born with “sacred dishes” and “cultural revival” in churches designed for something else — to meet with God in prayer. It seems that communism is no longer a relic of the past, but like a hydra, revives its tentacles in our present. This is not an aphorism about communism. Immediately after the October coup, the commissars tried to turn churches into anything, most importantly to distort their original purpose. For example, to this day, many Roman Catholic churches, both in small towns and in regional cities and even the capital, are used as houses of culture, philharmonic halls, organ halls, and art galleries…. Nowadays, the descendants of those communists, in the absence of counterarguments, say only: “Our legislation is like that“ or ‘What’s wrong with that?’” — Krivitsky wrote.

The RCC hierarch compared the initiators of such shows to the Marxists of the 20s of the last century, who did everything to secularize society. He called on the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience to respond to the event.

“The bad thing is that newly refined flavors are formed by adding “exotic components” from what is actually sacred to another. This is far from being culture, but its simulacrum, since it is not about “cultivation” — like collecting — but about distorting what already exists. And the biggest problem is that both the Marxists of the 20s of the last century and the 20s of the present cannot understand this. Or maybe they understand it well… That is why they create the relevant legislation. This situation requires a proper assessment by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience; for rethinking and apology by Mr. Klopotenko and his team for the mistake that occurred; and for each of us, so that we do not cultivate the “approaching holiday” with the taste of “vinaigrette and Olivier in one dish,” but linger on the proper honoring of “God with us” (and Him alone), which is so necessary for our people now. As it always has been,” — added Kryvytsky.

Earlier, a former priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and now a member of the OCU, Georgy Kovalenko, criticized those who opposed the culinary show in the Refectory Church of the Kyiv Cave Monastery. Kovalenko is convinced that people “fell for Moscow’s IPSO” and that there is nothing wrong with holding culinary and other shows in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, as this creates the atmosphere of a “real Ukrainian Lavra.”