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Believers pray outside a church during a service led by Metropolitan Onufriy, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, accused of being linked to Moscow, in the compound of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 29, 2023. Picture: REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Kyiv — Scuffles broke out outside a Kyiv monastery on Thursday after a Ukrainian branch of the Orthodox Church accused by the government of having ties with Russia defied an eviction order.
Tensions over the presence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) at the 980-year-old Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery have risen since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Hours after a deadline to leave the monastery passed at midnight on Wednesday, members of the UOC refused entry to a government representative who came to inspect buildings in the gold-domed monastery’s sprawling complex.
Shortly afterwards, Reuters correspondents saw UOC representatives trying to prevent journalists filming a senior UOC cleric as he walked inside the monastery grounds.
“You lie,” one man inside the complex shouted at reporters.
A reporter was hit and shoved by an unidentified man, and another reporter was pushed away by a cleric as she tried to approach him. No-one was hurt.
The UOC is Ukraine’s second-largest church, though most Ukrainian Orthodox believers belong to a separate branch of the faith, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, formed four years ago by uniting branches independent of Moscow’s authority.
The government says the UOC broke tenancy agreements and constructed buildings at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra illegally. The UOC denies this and says the government has not shown it any documents providing proof.
More broadly, Kyiv accuses the UOC of maintaining ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, which has supported Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The UOC says it broke all links with the Russian Church in May 2022.
The UOC says it has taken the government to court over what it casts as an illegal eviction, and that it has no plans to leave until there is a ruling in the case.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
‘Pro-Russian’ church in Kyiv resists eviction
Kyiv — Scuffles broke out outside a Kyiv monastery on Thursday after a Ukrainian branch of the Orthodox Church accused by the government of having ties with Russia defied an eviction order.
Tensions over the presence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) at the 980-year-old Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery have risen since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Hours after a deadline to leave the monastery passed at midnight on Wednesday, members of the UOC refused entry to a government representative who came to inspect buildings in the gold-domed monastery’s sprawling complex.
Shortly afterwards, Reuters correspondents saw UOC representatives trying to prevent journalists filming a senior UOC cleric as he walked inside the monastery grounds.
“You lie,” one man inside the complex shouted at reporters.
A reporter was hit and shoved by an unidentified man, and another reporter was pushed away by a cleric as she tried to approach him. No-one was hurt.
The UOC is Ukraine’s second-largest church, though most Ukrainian Orthodox believers belong to a separate branch of the faith, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, formed four years ago by uniting branches independent of Moscow’s authority.
The government says the UOC broke tenancy agreements and constructed buildings at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra illegally. The UOC denies this and says the government has not shown it any documents providing proof.
More broadly, Kyiv accuses the UOC of maintaining ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, which has supported Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The UOC says it broke all links with the Russian Church in May 2022.
The UOC says it has taken the government to court over what it casts as an illegal eviction, and that it has no plans to leave until there is a ruling in the case.
Reuters
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