Zelensky refuses to meet with representatives of the UOC

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President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky will not meet with the highest hierarchs of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), who came to the office of the head of state with a request for a meeting on Monday, March 20. This was announced by the press secretary of the Ukrainian leader Sergei Nikiforov

“The President of Ukraine has not scheduled a meeting with representatives of the UOC today,” Strana.ua quoted him as saying.

According to Nikiforov, employees of the relevant departments of the presidential office met with the UOC delegation to receive an appeal to Zelensky, register it and submit it for further consideration. However, representatives of the UOC refused to transmit the appeal.

According to the press service of the UOC, which is quoted by the publication, Metropolitan Onufry of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and members of the Holy Synod wanted to convey to Zelensky their position regarding the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

The head of the Synodal Information and Education Department of the UOC, Metropolitan of Nizhyn and Prilutsk Kliment, separately commented on Nikiforov’s statement. His comment is posted on the official site of UOC.

“We are very sorry that the state avoids direct contact and dialogue with a significant part of the Ukrainian people, believers of the UOC. We are very sorry that the state articulates distorted facts about the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He accuses the UOC of all sins and at the same time does not find an opportunity to explain his position and do everything to develop a dialogue between the Church and the state of Ukraine,” he said.

Ukrainian media noted that NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov assured that in case of refusal to leave the territory of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, priests and monks would not be used force.

At the same time, the clergy said that they were not going to leave the monastery.

Earlier, on March 15, the Minister of Culture of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko said that the monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church could remain in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra if they transferred to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The day before, on March 14, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, noted that the desire of the Kiev authorities to expel the monks from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra could lead to a surge in fratricidal war in the country.

At the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sent letters to UN Secretary General António Guterres and Foreign Minister of North Macedonia Buyar Osmani, as the acting chairman of the OSCE, in which he spoke about the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The Minister urged to prevent the eviction of monks from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and to stop the repressions against the canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

On March 10, it became known that the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra must leave the monastery before March 29 of this year. The document states that the interdepartmental working group for the preparation of proposals and recommendations on the organization of the implementation of certain tasks that are related to the activities of religious organizations in Ukraine convicted the monastery of allegedly violating the terms of the agreement on the use of buildings owned by the state.

In 2022, the Ukrainian authorities stepped up their actions against the UOC. They searched the homes of bishops and priests, churches and monasteries, including the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, in order to find traces of “anti-Ukrainian activities.” Thus, in December 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) opened 50 criminal cases against priests of the UOC.

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