A draft resolution registered with the Verkhovna Rada on Monday seeks to purge the Pochaiv Lavra in Ternopil Oblast from the Moscow Patriarchate clergy and monks.
The parliamentary web portal does not provide the text of the draft resolution, sponsored by over 30 MPs from various factions, “On the appeal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the termination of the lease agreement with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate for the complexes of buildings of the Holy Dormition Pochaiv Lavra.”
Earlier, the government decided to terminate the lease agreement for the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Last Wednesday, March 29, was the last day for the UOC-MP to stay in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra legally, but it is still there. According to UNIAN, the pro-Moscow priests incited the congregation into turmoil, engaging people in blocking off the Culture Ministry commission, which is supposed to make sure that all the state properties used by the UOC-MP are in place.
On Saturday, the ex-abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavlo a.k.a. “Pasha-Mercedes” for his passion for luxury cars, was charged with inciting religious enmity and justifying Russian aggression. The Security Service of Ukraine searched his home and then the court sent him under house arrest.
