On March 28, 2023, the Center for Patristic Studies in Greece published a document supporting the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. This is reported by the Information and Educational Department of the UOC with reference to the publication “Romfeya”.

“With great human sorrow, but also with hope for the eternal presence of the Lord, we are following the latest events related to the announced persecution of the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, which is the “Holy Mountain” of Ukraine and in which the relics of the holy Ukrainian fathers, who have always consecrated this place with its life and prayer,” the document says.

It notes that “the holy work of monks is unceasing prayer for the universal world, personal and collective sanctification”, and “he who hinders this holy work opposes the Church and the Triune God Himself.”

“As Greek Orthodox and persecuted brothers in Christ, we protest with pain against the attack on the Ukrainian monks of the Lavra and ask the Church of Greece and all other Local Orthodox Churches to take the side of the affected monks in everything.”

The document also says that “history has proven that those who opposed the Church, individuals or regimes, suffered a complete collapse and remained in black letters in history. That is why we choose to be on the right side of history, not to boast that we are with the winners, but to be written on the right side of the book of eternity.”