The Ministry of Culture allowed the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) and its head Epiphany to hold a Christmas service in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra reserve.
The acting general director of the "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" nature reserve Oleksandr Rudnyk stated this in a BBC commentary.
On the evening of January 5, he received an appeal regarding this service and a notification of permission from the Ministry of Culture. It is a one-time rental for worship: the reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" concluded an agreement with the OCU to hold a service on January 7 from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The police will ensure that there are no incidents.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP) stated that the Christmas service of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine "is an attempt to forcefully seize the Assumption Cathedral by means of blackmail and misleading society."
On January 4, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine announced that Metropolitan Epiphany, the Primate of the OCU, will perform the Christmas service in the Assumption Cathedral. This will be the first service of the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
- Before the New Year, the "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" reserve informed the UOC MP that, as of January 1, it was not renewing the contract for its use with the Assumption Cathedral and the Tabernacle Church.
- On December 1, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine instructed the government to submit to the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) a draft law banning the activities of religious organizations affiliated with Russia in Ukraine.
- On December 2, the National Security and Defense Council introduced personal sanctions against ex-Nardeput Vadym Novinskyi, vicar of the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Petro Lebed and a number of other priests of the UOC MP.