Phanar hierarch says all three Lavras should "return under control" of OCU

The head of the UOC in Canada (Patriarchate of Constantinople), Metropolitan Yurij (Kalischuk). Photo: tumblr.com

The hierarch of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Metropolitan Yurij (Kalischuk), who heads the UOC of Canada, is convinced that all three Lavras of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church should "return under full control" of the Ukrainian people and the OCU. He stated this in an interview with the Canadian channel Kontakt Ukrainian TV.

“In reality, both Kyiv Pechersk and Pochayiv Lavras are owned by the State of Ukraine, owned by the government of Ukraine,” he said. “And the Moscow Church – they call it the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but, according to the latest statements of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, this is the Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine, this is not the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Both Lavras, and there is also the third one – Sviatogorsk Lavra – all of them are provided to this Church for the temporary use in Ukraine.”

According to the representative of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, “we hope that as the society is developing and the government is being instructed <...> everything will return under the full control of the Ukrainian people and, I believe, it will be under the control of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.”

In addition, he said, "Ukrainians should be worried" that "various assets from these monasteries and the Lavras are exported across the border to another state."

We will remind, earlier a video was published on the Web in which the head of the UOC in Canada confirmed that it was Phanar who pushed the Ukrainian authorities to ask for the Tomos.

Read also