The Orthodox Church of Ukraine has more rights to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra than the UOC-MP, - religious scholar

“No legal grounds exist for such rude behavior on the part of representatives of the UOC-MP," the religious scholar notes.

"The Lavra´s residents live not in the realities of the present, but in those of the past. They believe the Lavra is 100% theirs and there can be no other way. Metropolitan Pavel and his brethren actually behave in the Lavra as its rightful owners. If they want to, they destroy historical monuments or reconstruct them to their own taste, without consulting or coordinating with the Ministry of Culture, or even without building up steep slopes in the buffer zone, creating emergency situations,” says Dmytro Horyevoy.

"The so-called lower Lavra, which is used by the legal entity "Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra/monastery/of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church" (USREO code – 14351528), is only a user of the premises.

The state of Ukraine is still the owner. Since this is a historical and cultural monument, which is the heritage of the entire Ukrainian people, and not the private property of a citizen of Ukraine, Petro Lebed, known as Metropolitan Pavel. Therefore, they do not have the right to prohibit photo or video shooting there. Moreover, such actions are qualified by Article 171 of the Criminal Code as obstruction of professional journalistic activities and entail criminal liability,” the religious scholar explains.

Dmytro Horyevoy concludes: "As long as this approach dominates among the representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine, the issue of using Ukrainian laurels will be open."

The religious scholar notes that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) has more rights to these monasteries than the UOC-MP.

Dmytro Horyevoy explains that until 2018, the UOC-MP formally had the historical right to the Lavra, as a structure that had more grounds to claim the inheritance of the ancient Kyiv Metropolia. But after Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew cancelled the act of 1686 on October 12, 2018, and restored the Kyiv Metropolia, two months later, as a result of the Unification Council, it was transformed into the autocephalous OCU.

Representatives of the UOC-MP, for the most part, remained those who refused this process, actually leaving the Kyiv Metropolia, and therefore their rights to its inheritance, including the Lavra, are now in great doubt.”