OCU Again Held Religious Rites in the Far Caves of the Lavra

On July 30, 2025, clergy of the OCU, led by the so-called «abbot» Avramiy Lotysh, were once again allowed into the Far Caves of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The group entered the cave church of Venerable Theodosius of the Caves. As before, OCU representatives acted under the cover of the reserve administration. There, they conducted their religious rites. This was reported on their Facebook page “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.”

“This event, according to the archpastor, testifies that despite all obstacles, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is establishing itself in the Lavra. At the same time, the spiritual connection with the Mother Church of Constantinople continues—a Church that once included all the Venerable Fathers of the Caves, and which now lives on within the free and autocephalous Ukrainian Church,” the post reads.

It is worth recalling that Avramiy Lotysh, an employee of the National Reserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” and simultaneously the abbot of the OCU’s Lavra monastery, accused monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of having “abandoned the venerable saints.” According to Lotysh, this was evident from the fact that UOC monks did not participate in the religious rites recently held in the Lavra caves by the OCU’s head, Epiphaniy Dumenko.