UOC rep: Talks about Lavra transfer to Ministry of Culture are speculations

Chairman of the UOC Synodal Information and Education Department, Metropolitan Clement of Nizhyn and Priluky, denied information that the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is transferred to the Ministry of Culture. He made this statement to the Strana.ua news and analysis website. He said that all the talk in the press around the work of the ministerial Commission, as well as the statements of the Minister of Culture himself, are fabrications and speculation, and told the resource how exactly the work of the Commission takes place.

"For a couple of weeks now there have been people walking around the Lavra who call themselves the ministerial Commission on camera. They are inspecting the buildings, taking pictures of something on their mobile phones. But no one has done or plans to do anything that can be regarded as a process of transferring the property from one organization to another. The representatives of the monastery and the national Reserve have not signed any documents between them. On the contrary, officials praise the monks and the administration of the Theological Academy for good maintenance of the historical premises," said the hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Metropolitan Clement noted that life in the monastery has not changed, the brethren of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra continue to live in their buildings, and seminarians of KDAiS are studying, as before. Divine services continue in the inspected churches.

On May 2, 2023, the Ministry of Culture reported on Telegram that a commission of the Ministry of Culture "transferred 16 buildings of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra to the Reserve" for use.