On May 2, 2023, Metropolitan Vladimir of Pochaev appealed to the Chairman of the Ternopil Regional Council Mikhail Golovko. This was reported by the Information and Educational Department of the UOC.

The reason for the appeal was a field meeting, which was recently held by the chairman of the Ternopil Regional Council in the city of Pochaev.

“One of the strategic issues that you considered is the fate of the Pochaev Lavra. The goals that you are pursuing are, so to speak, to legally expel the monks from the monastery,” the bishop noted.

The governor of the Pochaev Lavra recalled that the gentry Andrey Firley, who used various oppressions against the monks of the monastery, first wanted to do this in 1617. Vladyka also spoke about other events throughout history, when the brethren were persecuted for their faith. Metropolitan Vladimir especially drew attention to the Soviet period.

“The regime of Soviet communist power, having nationalized the Lavra churches and other buildings, did the following. A museum of atheism was opened in the premises of a modern theological seminary. Member of your recent meeting, Nikolai Viktorovich Zamkovsky, can testify to this. For a long time he was an active worker in this museum, theomachist and anti-Ukrainian propaganda “, – said Bishop Viceroy.

In addition, according to the hierarch, in the last century, the buildings of the world-famous shrine housed a laundry, a clinic, an office that was responsible for the destruction of mice, police premises, a mental hospital, a pigsty, and the like. In the temple of the martyr. Panteleimon, samples were taken, and they were stored in the altar part.

The bishop Vladimir noted that when the state arbitrarily disposed of the buildings of the Lavra, these structures were brought into an emergency-dangerous state.

“You want to expel the monks, Ukrainians, your countrymen, who in the past defended the shrine at the cost of their lives from complete annihilation and destruction. Fear God and his justice. It is hard to imagine what the brethren of the Pochaev Lavra experienced during the Soviet atheistic, communist period. It really is terrible, tragic pages in the history of the holy monastery.Many of the brethren survived several prison sentences for their faith, for the holy monastery.On the official website of the Pochaev Lavra there is a photo album in comparison, in what state the Lavra was in the 90s of the last century and what it is now. Therefore, do not listen to those who mislead you, as if many buildings on the territory of the Lavra were built without appropriate permits.Everything that has been restored on the territory of the Lavra, that has been built, has the appropriate permits from the Ministry of Culture and construction organizations.This is evidenced by a number of documents and certificates ”, the abbot emphasized.

The hierarch also reminded the official that after the Russian Federation launched military aggression and attacked Ukraine, he had a meeting with him in the Lavra, where the bishop testified that the brethren of the monastery were with the Ukrainian people, with Ukraine. Metropolitan Volodymyr also noted that such a position is evidenced by the fact that “our Ukrainian Orthodox Church constantly helps our defending soldiers.”

“On the first day of the war, our Primate, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, openly appealed to the President of Russia to stop the war. Everyone knows that on May 27, 2022, the Local Council of the UOC was convened in the city of Kiev, in Fefania, at which the clergy and laity discussed some issues and made a number of decisions testifying to the independence of our Church,” the bishop stressed.

“April 25 this year, after the meeting, you came to the territory of the Lavra and saw with your own eyes how the brethren conscientiously take care of the shrine. In this difficult time that we are going through, religious issues should not create enmity and discord. Our Church prays daily for our Ukrainian land. We, just like you, are worried about the fate of our homeland and ask God for peace to come to our Ukrainian land. You, as a believer and chairman of the regional council, please do not repeat the mistakes that Lenin made , Stalin and Khrushchev during his reign,” Metropolitan Vladimir said as a result.