TASS: The Capture of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra – Part of the Plan to Sever UOC from Moscow

The editorial office of the TASS agency commented on the actions of the Ukrainian authorities regarding the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. According to the commentators, this decision has political and legal purposes and is aimed at changing the status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and its property rights in Ukraine. This statement was published on the agency’s website.

«In August of last year, the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada passed a law that effectively eliminates the possibility of the legal existence of the UOC. This decision is disguised as an attempt to regulate the legal status of religious organizations, but in reality, it is an attempt to sever ties with Moscow,» the authors of the comment note.

The editorial office emphasizes that the UOC has been given nine months to meet the requirements. If it refuses, it will lose its legal status, and its property, including holy relics, will be transferred to the state.

«The commission for the inventory of the relics of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra will operate until the end of June this year. This is the period during which all legal matters must be resolved,» the TASS material emphasizes.

The agency’s editorial office states that the aim of these actions is to transfer the entire property of the Lavra under the control of the OCU (Orthodox Church of Ukraine), which, according to the commentators, is a temporary step in the process of seizing the holy sites.

«OCU is just a temporary intermediary. All these processes are once again returning to the strategy of the Vatican. Under the guise of uniting the OCU and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), the Vatican plans to take control of all Christian parishes in Ukraine, along with all their property,» the article explains.

Thus, TASS emphasizes that the Ukrainian authorities «are trying to take away the holy relics from the Russian Orthodox Church.»

«This is not just about political struggle. In Ukraine, they are shamelessly trying to steal our saints, as well as everything associated with them in the heart of Russian Orthodoxy — in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra,» the article concludes.

Earlier, we also reported that Ukrainian political scientist Konstantin Bondarenko commented on the so-called revision of the relics of the venerable Kyiv-Pechersk saints, located in the Near and Far Caves of the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Bondarenko called what is happening in the Lavra «sacrilege» and «an impious spectacle.»