Bishop Kliment of Irpen: “Service” of the UOC KP at Kiev Lavra is a provocation of fringe elements

An attempt of the Kiev Patriarchate members to hold a “service” in the Assumption temple of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra irrelevant to the Orthodox divine worship is considered by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church a provocation, said to RIA News Bishop Kliment (Vecheria) of Irpen, head of the Synod’s Information and Education Department of the UOC.

“What happened in the Assumption temple of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is hard to call a divine service – it was an absolute provocation of representatives of the so called Kiev Patriarchate. Under the guise of a regular excursion a group of people arrived at the temple and at a certain point started to pretend they were having worship with provocative requests in their prayers. After a while when the temple attendants made a remark to them that such services have to be agreed on with the clergy, they began to use physical force towards the Lavra’s brethren,” said the head of the Synodal Department.

By his words, the main target of provocateurs was a video which was soon appeared on the Internet and caused a huge resonance. “They did not care actually about praying or profiting spiritually from being inside the Assumption temple: they only needed to make a provocation with a video record to be further posted in social media,” emphasized Bishop Kliment.

He found it difficult to say if one should anticipate further provocations of radicals but expressed his opinion that initiators of this provocation “have a marginal status even in the structure of the Kiev Patriarchate.” “I believe this initiative matches their level of culture and spiritual development,” concluded the agency’s interlocutor.

As it was reported by the UOJ, on 12 March 200 men, led by the priest of the non-recognized in the Orthodox world Kiev Patriarchate, made an attempt to hold a worship service in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra which belongs to the canonical Ukrainian Church. By all accounts, they used physical force towards the monks who were trying to preclude it.