The head of the OCU met with the acting head of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine

The head of the OCU, Epifanius Dumenko, held a meeting with the interim Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine, Tetyana Berezhnaya. During the meeting, held on September 23, 2025, the parties discussed «key issues of strengthening Ukrainian society through spirituality and culture», as well as «steps to counter Russian influence in the cultural and religious spheres». This is reported by the press service of the OCU.

It is reported that the meeting was also attended by the head of the press service of the OCU Evstratiy Zorya and acting Director General of the National Reserve «Kievo-Pechersk Lavra» Svetlana Kotlyarevskaya. The participants «paid special attention to the role of spirituality, culture and national identity in the consolidation of Ukrainian society.»

The parties discussed the introduction of new norms of «state legislation in the sphere of religion and on measures to counteract the aggressive influence of Russia in the religious and cultural life of the country.» At the end of the meeting Dumenko personally congratulated Tetyana Berezhnaya on her appointment as head of the Ministry and wished her success and God’s blessing in her important work for the good of Ukraine.

We shall remind you that earlier we reported that by order of the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine, the Microbiological Laboratory of Sumy State University «ECOMEDCHEM» conducted «tests» with the relics of the Venerable Pechersk in the Far Caves of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Such information follows from the response to the lawyer’s request of Archpriest Nikita Chekman. He noted that the rest of the information about the actions of institutions in relation to the Lavra shrines, the agencies refused to provide.