Tensions continue in kyiv between the Ukrainian authorities and the branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, known as the Moscow Patriarchate. The latter historically sits on the site of the Pechersk Lavra, a thousand-year-old monastic complex located in the center of kyiv, a monument classified by Unesco. But the Ukrainian government, which suspects this branch of the Church of collusion with the Kremlin, raises the threat of expropriation by force.
With our correspondent in kyiv, Stephane Siohan
On Sunday, masses continued at the Pechersk Lavra, also called the Cave Monastery, because of its places of worship located underground. Onuphry, the Metropolitan of kyiv, head of the branch of the Moscow Patriarchate, refused tolisten to the injunctions of the Ukrainian authorities and gathered faithful on the site, despite the end announced on March 29 of the lease signed in 2013, during the Yanukovych period, allowing the Patriarchate of Moscow to sit on the historic site of the Pechersk Lavra.
freedom of conscience invoked
According to court orders, the priests should have left the site on March 29, but even if vehicles already seem to be carrying personal and liturgical belongings, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate refuses what it describes as an ultimatum , invoking the principle of freedom of conscience.
Last week, Pavel, the abbot of the monastery, nicknamed “ Pavel Mercedes by many Kievans because of his taste for luxury cars and gilding, has been placed under judicial supervision for two months, while the Ukrainian government suspects its Church of tolerating or even supporting Russian propaganda.
These last years, the Moscow Patriarchate was in decline in Ukraine, faced with its rival, the Unified Ukrainian Church, now it is playing its survival.