The head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, Viktor Yelensky, believes that the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra can be leased to another Church, “which will not be associated with the Moscow Patriarchate.” Yelensky said this in an interview with Ukrinform.
According to him, on December 1, 2022, in accordance with the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, a government commission was created, which found violations in the way the UOC used state property.
Therefore, an interdepartmental group set up by the government to prepare proposals for the activities of religious organizations recommended that the Ministry of Culture terminate the agreement on the use of the buildings of the National Preserve “Kiev-Pechersk Lavra” by the monastery.
“Subsequently, the state may conclude an agreement on use with another monastic community, which will treat the historical and cultural space of its country more conscientiously and will not be associated with the Moscow Patriarchate,” Yelensky concluded.