The Ministry of Culture Plans to Include OCU “Services” in the Lavra Caves in UNESCO Heritage

Acting Director General of the National Reserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra,” Svitlana Kotliarevska, announced plans to submit to UNESCO the “fact of veneration of the relics of the venerable in the caves” as a unique component of intangible cultural heritage. Commenting on the OCU “services” in the Far Caves of the Lavra, Kotliarevska called them a “historic event,” boasting that the service is conducted in Ukrainian and in the Ukrainian caves of the Lavra. She made this statement in an interview with Ukrinform.

According to her, the reserve’s scholars are currently compiling a list of materials and plan to prepare the submission document for UNESCO within the next year.

Earlier, we reported that the head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) claims that if the Ukrainian Orthodox Church does not comply with state requirements and does not sever ties with the Moscow Patriarchate by August 24, the State Service will file a lawsuit to completely ban the UOC. The official also claims that the court proceedings on this matter will proceed much faster than the UOC expects.