Pochaev Lavra: Ukraine is preparing to seize the “citadel of the Russian World”
The Ukrainian authorities are studying the question of how to deprive the UOC of the Pochaev Lavra.
The PolitNavigator correspondent reports that this was stated by the Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Alexander Tkachenko, answering a corresponding question.
“The issue is not only in the Pochaev Lavra, but in many objects that were transferred for use or lease to the UOC. In many cases, agreements end, as, for example, in the Chernigov Nature Reserve.
And in the case of the Pochaev Lavra, there was only one church, in the Kremenets Nature Reserve, where the agreement was completed. And the same picture is happening as in Kyiv. The priest took the keys and prevents us from moving this church to ourselves. But the foundation of the Pochaev Lavra is under an agreement with the Cabinet of Ministers in use for 49 or 50 years,” Tkachenko said in an interview with the Liga portal.
According to him, this “deadline will not expire soon.”
“We are studying these documents. As soon as we are ready, we will provide details. A more or less civilized process is taking place in Chernigov. We are studying the situation in other places. First of all, we pay attention to objects falling under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture. Because the vast majority of religious sites are either property, like the Svyatogorsk Lavra, a regional council, a community (in other cases, these are generally local councils), sometimes it can even be the property of the UOC,” the minister noted.
He was reminded that the claims to the Pochaev Lavra were publicly announced by the OCU and the UGCC, and they asked about the ministry’s position on this matter.
“We haven't thought about it yet. On the territory of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the service of the OCU is carried out on holidays, and below the service of the UOC MP continues. We see that there are opportunities for different churches to hold services. According to Pochaevskaya, let's first resolve the property issue. In the future, informed decisions must be made on how services can be performed there: whether it be rent or temporary agreements,” says Tkachenko.
He calls for a separate study of “the history of this issue.”
“How did the Pochaev Lavra become the center of the “Russian world” in the Ternopil region? Where did many of the residents of Pochaev come from in recent years? There, a stronghold [quoter] of the “Russian world” was deliberately built in western Ukraine. And this question is addressed to many leaders at different levels of government,” Tkachenko summed up.
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