Russia urges Ukraine to release vicar of Kyiv-Pechers Lavra monastery

MOSCOW

Russia on Saturday demanded Ukraine immediately release the vicar of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, Metropolitan Paul, arrested under an “artificial” pretext.

In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized the charges against the clergyman, pointing out that he was arrested for “doubts of Ukraine’s sovereignty” and “denial of aggression from Russia,” and for his doubts, he faces up to eight years in prison.

The spokeswoman also criticized the Solomensky Court of Kyiv for “intentionally appointing an unmanageable bail” of almost one million dollars.

“What happened is one more manifestation of political lawlessness and legal outrage reigning in Ukraine, a systemic gross violation of the rights of Orthodox Christians by the Kyiv regime,” she said.

According to Zakharova, raids in the Orthodox monasteries, the banishment of believers from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, and Metropolitan Paul’s arrest are “links of the same chain.”

“The purpose of these actions is to destroy the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which unites tens of millions of people,” she said.

Zakharova slammed Kyiv’s actions as “a policy of moral terror.”

“We demand Kyiv regime’s strict compliance with its international legal obligations, the immediate release of Metropolitan Paul, who is suffering from a serious illness, and the provision of proper medical care to him,” she said, urging international human rights organizations to take proper notice of his arrest.

The head of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery was put under house arrest in May by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which opened a criminal case against him on suspicion of working for Russia.

Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves, has been an important center of Eastern Orthodox Christianity since its foundation in 1051.

Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox churches used to be united, but in 2018, then-President Petro Poroshenko requested the autocephaly (autonomy) status for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), established in opposition to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which was part of the All-Russia congregation.

The two institutions split, and the process was accompanied by the division of property, and the new church secured a lot of assets.

With the start of the Russian “special military operation” in Ukraine, the new church accused the old church of connections with Moscow.

In May last year, though the Ukrainian Orthodox Church split from Moscow, it nevertheless is labeled by the Ukrainian authorities and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as “pro-Russia.”

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