The head of the UGCC Communications Department: We did not leave Pochayiv Lavra willingly

This was stated in a commentary to LIGA.net by the head of the Communications Department of the UGCC, Fr Ihor Yatsiv, according to Espresso.Zakhid.

"The position of our Church is based on historical sources that Greek Catholics prayed in the Pochayiv Monastery. Greek Catholics were forcibly expelled from the entire left-bank part of Ukraine during the Tsarist Russia. We did not leave the Pochayiv Lavra voluntarily," he said.

At the same time, the priest clarified that it is not about the right of ownership of the complex of buildings but about the possibility of using it "on a sustainable basis, as it was with the UOC-MP, on the basis of contracts."

The UGCC spokesman also assured that if the state does not make a positive decision for the UGCC, no one will organize "crusades."

"We just testified to our right to be there so that later it would not turn out that we were silent and therefore we were not given anything," he explained.

It is worth noting that in addition to the UGCC and the UOC-MP, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine also claims the Pochayiv Monastery. However, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy has not yet decided how to resolve this dispute.

Also recently, the head of the Ternopil Regional Council, Mykhailo Holovko, said that during an offsite meeting, the working group recorded a number of violations that are grounds for terminating the lease of the Pochayiv Lavra.