On March 13, 2023, Metropolitan Varsonofy of Vinnitsa and Bar announced on his Facebook page that on that day he met a commission from the reserve on the territory of the Near Caves.

The bishop noted that the representatives of the commission, as it turned out, “came to check without any documents and warnings from the hierarchy.”

“Together with bishop Pavel, I wrote down an appeal about the violation of legal procedures, as well as a call to our believers to intensify prayer and stand for our common shrine, which they want to illegally take away from the monks of the Lavra,” wrote Metropolitan Varsonofy.