The reserve terminated the contract with the UOC on the free use of the Lavra in March.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate refused to sign acts on the transfer of property of the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" to the state. Oleksandr Tkachenko, Minister of Culture and Information Policy, reported this in Telegram on June 13.
According to him, the ministerial commission for the acceptance and transfer of state property has completed its work. The conservator sent the UOC an act of acceptance and transfer of state property (which had to be signed within three working days), as well as a demand to hand over the keys to all 79 objects specified in the act.
"We must state that the term has expired and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has not yet done so. This and all other obstacles will be included in the court case," Tkachenko wrote.
Currently, the Ministry of Culture is waiting for the decision of the Economic Court of Kyiv, which is considering the refusal of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to return the Lavra to the reserve, he added.
It should be noted that since 2013, by order of the Cabinet of Ministers, 79 buildings in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra have been in free use near the men's monastery of the UOC MP - part of the Russian Orthodox Church. The UOC MP officially has the status of a "self-governing church with the rights of wide autonomy."
On March 10, 2023, the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" announced that, effective March 29, it was terminating the agreement with the Holy Dormition Monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Ukraine on the free use of buildings located on the territory of the reserve. The warning concerns the buildings of the lower Lavra, where the men's monastery is located. In the upper Lavra, the UOC MP used the Dormition Cathedral and the Tabernacle Church, but the contract for their lease expired on December 31, 2022 and was not renewed. These two temples were returned to state management on January 5.
Metropolitan Pavlo (Lebyd), who was the vicar of the Lavra, said that the monks of the UOC MP are not going to evict from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra until the court's decision.
On March 30, the state commission on receiving and transferring property to a state institution was supposed to start work on the territory of the Lavra. Before that, the monks had to vacate the premises. However, the clergy did not allow the commission.
On the same day, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted decisions according to which the management of the property of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra was transferred to the state.
Later, the commission continued its work in the Lavra.
