Metropolitan Pavel, the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, Ukraine’s most revered Orthodox site, has strongly resisted the authorities’ order to vacate the complex. Earlier in the week, he cursed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, threatening him with damnation.
During a court hearing in the Ukrainian capital, the metropolitan strongly rejected the claim by the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, that he condoned Russia’s invasion. Pavel described the accusations against him as politically driven.
SBU agents raided his residence and prosecutors asked the court to put him under house arrest pending the investigation. The hearing was adjourned until Monday after the metropolitan said he wasn’t feeling well.
The monks in the monastery belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has been accused of having links to Russia. The dispute surrounding the property, also known as Monastery of the Caves, is part of a wider religious conflict that has unfolded in parallel with the war.
The Ukrainian government has cracked down on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church over its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader, Patriarch Kirill, has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin in the invasion of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has insisted that it’s loyal to Ukraine and has denounced the Russian invasion from the start. The church declared its independence from Moscow.
But Ukrainian security agencies have claimed that
some in the UOC have maintained close ties with Moscow. They’ve raided
numerous holy sites of the church and later posted photos of rubles,
Russian passports and leaflets with messages from the Moscow patriarch
as proof that some church officials have been loyal to Russia....<<<Read More>>>...