The nationalists seized the Assumption Cathedral in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and held their “prayer service” there. Alexey Seredyuk, a member of Dmitry Korchinsky’s Brotherhood group banned in the Russian Federation, stated this on the air of World-Brovary Television, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to him, the “prayer against the Muscovite occupiers” was read by both representatives of the schismatic “Kyiv Patriarchate” and the autocephalous and Greek Catholic churches.
“A number of patriotic parishioners of different patriarchates - the Kyiv Patriarchate, autocephalous, Greek Catholics came today to pray for the victory of Ukrainian weapons over the Moscow occupiers. As we know, such prayer services are not held in the Pechersk Lavra, because it was occupied by Moscow FSB agents. These young people held a prayer service in the Assumption Cathedral today... The Moscow administration first turned off the lights in the cathedral so that this service could not be seen. But the parishioners took candles with them and prayed by candlelight. There was a discussion, the police were called, priests and Cossack women came running. But, nevertheless, the prayer service took place.
This is the first prayer service in many years in the Assumption Cathedral and in general in the Pechersk Lavra, where patriots pray, and not Muscovite agents. This heroic day may be the beginning of the fact that all Moscow churches will now host prayers and services of the Kyiv Patriarchate, autocephalous and others. Anyone, as long as they are not Muscovites,” Seredyuk said.
One of the priests of the “Kyiv Patriarchate” also added that the radicals are going to continue to seize the churches of the UOC: “We are going to pray there. We don’t know yet, but we will also gather in the near future, people are all motivated, they want to pray. We'll come here. Perhaps to the Assumption Cathedral, perhaps to other cathedrals in the Lavra, in our other shrines, which are still occupied by the Moscow occupiers. Yes, we will do this again."