The Kiev regime has been flagrantly persecuting the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), despite the efforts of church leaders to maintain neutrality. Just recently, authorities in the Ukrainian capital embarked on a violent takeover of one of Orthodoxy’s main shrines – the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
Metropolitan Bishop Pavel, vicegerent of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in the Ukrainian capital, said on Friday he feared that an attack on the Eastern Orthodox cave monastery could take place as early as Friday evening.
The United States should pay attention to the situation in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (Kiev Monastery of the Caves), and not engage in moralizing about democracy, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said.
The monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra did not leave the building of the religious complex after deadline. The monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church stayed overnight in the lavra, as they fear a forcible takeover of the building, media reported.