Only OCU Monks Will Be Granted Access to Lavra Caves — TSN Report

According to journalist Oleksandr Zahorodnyi, monks who remain loyal to the UOC will no longer be allowed access to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra caves. The only option for them is to join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU); only then will they be permitted to stay near the holy relics. This was stated in a TSN report published on the official YouTube channel of the OCU.

The journalist noted that all OCU monks are officially employees of the National Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Reserve, which gives them the «legal right» to be present in the caves and to conduct prayers. UOC monks have no such agreement with the Ministry of Culture and therefore are denied access to the sacred site. The fact that a video containing these claims was published by the OCU itself suggests that the church leadership endorses the journalist’s statements — including the claim that all OCU monks are officially employed by the Ministry of Culture.

Zahorodnyi also suggested that after certain inspections, UOC monks might be allowed back into the caves, but he called this scenario unlikely.

As a reminder, religious scholar and OCU media advocate Tetiana Derkach recently suggested that after the end of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the global Orthodox Church may face a deeper divide, polarizing into Greek and Russian factions. Her conclusion was based on a recent meeting in Moscow between the Primates of the Russian and Serbian Orthodox Churches.