1 of 2 Metropolitan Pavlo, Director of the Orthodox Christian Monastery of KyivPechersk Lavra. — Photo: HANDOUT / UKRAINIAN SECURITY SERVICE / AFP Metropolitan Pavlo, director of the Orthodox Christian monastery KyivPechersk Lavra. — Photo: HANDOUT / UKRAINIAN SECURITY SERVICE / AFP
A court in Kiev ordered Metropolitan Pavlo’s house arrest this Saturday (April 1), Ukrainian media reported. The determination is valid for 60 days and he must be monitored with an electronic anklet. The cleric is a member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (IOU), canonically linked to the Patriarchate of Moscow, and abbot of the Monastery of the Caves, scene of a broader religious conflict unfolding parallel to the war.
Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating Pavlo for justifying Russia’s actions and inciting religious hatred for his public attacks on the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (IOdaU), which is canonically independent from Moscow.
Earlier on Saturday, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) told Pavlo that he was suspected of two crimes: inciting interfaith hostility and justifying Russian aggression. The 61yearold priest denies the allegations and says they are politically motivated.
“The law and responsibility for violations are the same for everyone, and a cassock is no guarantee of pure intentions,” SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk said in a statement, accusing Russia of using religion “to promote propaganda and Ukrainian.” to divide society”.
The Ukrainian government is leading a crackdown on the IOU over its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader Patriarch Kirill is a staunch supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a supporter of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Pro and antiPavlo protests took place near the monastery.
Monks refuse to leave the monastery
The decision to place Pavlo under house arrest came three days after the cleric, along with some 200 monks and 400 IOU seminarians, refused to comply with an order from the Ukrainian government to leave the Monastery of the Caves.
The monks using the property are from the IOU. However, the monastery is owned by the Ukrainian government, which notified the IOU earlier this month of the termination of the contract to use the site.
However, Metropolitan Pavlo and other Orthodox monks and priests living at the monastery said they would not leave the site pending the outcome of a new legal battle aimed at preventing the eviction.
The Monastery of the Caves is actually a kind of monastery complex with around 140 buildings. As in Soviet times, it belongs to the state and the Ukrainian government determines who can use it. The Minister of Culture of Ukraine, Olexander Tkachenko, canceled the lease agreement with the IOU, claiming that the clergy, in violation of the established rules, built new buildings on the site and renovated existing ones.
However, the real reason would be the suspicion that members of the IOU were secretly working for Russia. The IOU accuses the Ukrainian government of religious persecution. Although the situation is not resolved, the monks remain in the holy place and celebrate masses, despite the government’s order.
2 of 2 — Photo: Andrew Kravchenko/AP — Photo: Andrew Kravchenko/AP
Increased tensions
The monks are supported by numerous believers who hold vigils in the monastery. On the other hand, the protests against the IOU are also spreading throughout the country.
The IOU has historically been one of the key links between Ukrainians and Russia, which is said to be using the Congregation to increase its influence. Ukrainian intelligence services claim that Russian propaganda material was found during raids on the monastery late last year. Since the invasion began, Ukrainian authorities have arrested several IOU prelates on charges of blessing the invading Russian army and leaking information to enemy military officials to aid in their operations.
This Sunday, at Khmelnytskyi Cathedral in western Ukraine, an IOU priest attacked a Ukrainian army volunteer (who had been wounded at the front) after the soldier berated those present for maintaining their church affiliations.
“How many more people have to die for you to stop walking [igreja do] Patriarchate of Moscow?” the soldier is said to have shouted during a mass, regional councilor Viktor Burlyk explained on his Facebook account, where he also posted a video of the moment of the attack.
IOdaU primate Epiphanius I recently accused Metropolitan Pavlo of “terrorizing” his monks. SBU Reserve Major General Viktor Yagun said Sunday that the IOU is trying to provoke Ukrainian believers who are demonstrating in the Monastery of the Caves in order to create “a bloodbath” in order to discredit Ukrainian democracy.
Break with the Russian Patriarchate
In May 2022, the IOU broke with Russian Patriarch Cyril and the Russian Orthodox Church in protest at the religious leader’s passionate support for the war. The IOU reaffirmed its independence from Moscow by removing the suffix “Moscow Patriarchate” from its name until then it was called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (IOUPM). In May last year, the IOU described itself in a new statute as independent but not autocephalous.
Many Ukrainians doubt the authenticity of the break and ask the faithful of this community, if they really want to cut all ties with Moscow, to join IOdaU.
Fulfilling a longstanding wish of the Ukrainian independence movement, in 2018 Kiev created its own autocephalous Orthodox Church, independent of Moscow, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (IOdaU), which was then recognized in Istanbul by Bartholomew I, a kind of “honorary priest” of the 260th Millions of Orthodox Christians around the world.