The State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) during its inspection found signs that the Pochaiv Holy Formation Lavra is affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church. In total, the inspection lasted from June 24.
This was reported on the website of the State Policy Department.
The service confirmed that the monastery is a subdivision of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and is part of the Kyiv Metropolis of UOC. This metropolis, according to Ukrainian law, is affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church. The charter of the lavra and documents also confirm its affiliation with the Kyiv Metropolis of UOC.
The inspection revealed that the head of the Pochaiv Lavra is a member of the statutory governing bodies of ROC. After the inspection, DESS published a corresponding order identifying signs of affiliation.
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What is known about the Pochaiv Lavra?
The Pochaiv Lavra complex includes 18 buildings. It was leased free of charge to the UOC MP in 2003. The contract was concluded for 49 years — it is valid until 2052. In 2022, during searches by SBU on the territory of the Lavra, propaganda materials were found there that deny the existence of the Ukrainian people, their language, and Ukraineʼs very right to statehood.
In April 2023, the parliament registered a draft appeal to the government to terminate the lease agreement with the UOC MP regarding the monastery buildings. In an explanatory note, the authors explained the initiative by saying that the Holy Assumption Pochaiv Lavra “is the source of the ʼRussian world’ and has become an outpost of anti-Ukrainian forces and a center of interfaith confrontation and discord”.
The Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy of the Verkhovna Rada in April 2023 recommended checking compliance with the terms of the agreement on the use of the Pochaiv Lavra facilities by the UOC MP. The same month, the Ministry of Culture created a corresponding commission. It completed its work at the end of July and found that the UOC MP had been arbitrarily making repairs, building extensions, and changing structures. Some of the icons had also disappeared from the monastery.
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