Vicegerent of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra writes a convicting letter to the President

Abbot of the Holy Assumption Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Metropoltian Paul, wrote an open letter to President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Vladimir Groysman. The letter describes what assaults the Lavra’s brethren and the canonical Church as a whole are being faced up to currently.

“The Lavra, despite recent bureaucratic obstacles from the licensing authorities, has always acted in the legal field,” the open letter says. “The approval of the state of preservation of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra at the last session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is a confirmation and a refutation of groundless accusations against the shrine. Unfortunately, paid-for TV programs and publications are dressed in slander and unsubstantiated and unfounded accusations of the Lavra of anti-state activities, cooperation with terrorists and foreign special services, as well as open threats of the monastery's seizure. These illegal actions, inciting inter-ethnic and inter-confessional enmity, compel us to apply to relevant law enforcement agencies. In addition, we declare that we are people of faith, citizens of our state of Ukraine, none of the brethren has passports of any other country, and we are children of One Local Canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which forms a part of the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church.

Metropolitan Paul draws attention to the fact that people, who try to sow enmity among believers, act according to the imperial principle: "divide and rule".

"Among the politicians there are those who speculate on the topic of spirituality, remaining atheists in their souls or forgetting which Church the Holy Baptism was taken in," writes the Metropolitan. “Attempts to push through the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine bills, directed against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and trampling not only the Constitution of Ukraine, but also the norms of international law, are disguised in a spirituality discourse. However, the understanding of the word "spirituality" with these people is at the Soviet atheistic level, while the true meaning of spirituality as actions of the Holy Spirit in man, was replaced by the rhetoric about the so-called culture and education."

At the end of his message, the vicegerent of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra expressed hope that "the incitement of an inter-ethnic and inter-faith discord in our long-suffering country" will be put to an end."