UOC lawyer sues organizers of culinary show in Refectory Church of Kyiv Cave Monastery

On December 16, 2024, Archpriest Nikita Chekman, a lawyer for the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, filed a lawsuit against the organizers of a cooking show that was filmed by 1+1 TV channel in the Refectory Church of the monastery. The lawyer is convinced that the authors of the show, filming a culinary program in one of the Lavra’s churches, committed an offense and actions aimed at offending the feelings of believers. Chekman wrote about this on his Telegram channel.

“Representatives of the Lavra filed a report on the commission of a criminal offense on the fact that Yevgeny Klopotenko, Yakim Galimov and Maxim Ostapenko committed a criminal offense under Part 3 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, namely intentional actions aimed at inciting religious hatred and enmity, insulting the feelings of citizens in connection with their religious beliefs, committed by an organized group of persons,” — the lawyer wrote.

The archpriest added that the church is a functioning place of prayer and religious rites, not a platform for organizing entertainment events. He believes that the authors of the show have thus desecrated the Refectory Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and offended the feelings of believing citizens of Ukraine.

“By filming and publicly demonstrating a cooking show in a prayer church, Yevhen Klopotenko violates and disregards the Church canons, religious traditions and rules established in society, shows disrespect for the religious community and its values, and thus causes offense to believers in connection with their religious beliefs. As the church is a valid place for worship and other religious rites, filming a cooking show in the church is unethical behavior of the participants and organizers of this show,” — added the archpriest.