On the Bombing of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra

Last night, the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra went up in flames.

The Ukrainian government blamed Russia for the attack. Russia’s Ministry of Defense has denied culpability, claiming that the Cathedral was hit by a Ukrainian interceptor missile. The Russians provided no evidence to support this claim.

Unfortunately, this would not be the first time Russia blew up a Ukrainian Orthodox church, accidentally or otherwise. Even if Moscow is correct, however, and Kyiv’s air-defense systems damaged the Cathedral, Moscow is still, ultimately, to blame. The Russian Army fired over 70 missiles and 600 drones at the city. What choice did the Ukrainians have but to defend themselves?

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has called the attack “barbaric”; that’s precisely the word for it. Whether the attack was meant to hit the Dormition Cathedral specifically, Russia’s latest strike was not focused on military targets; it was intended to inflict suffering and death on the residents of Kyiv.

The destruction of the Dormition Cathedral is a terrible blow. Yet we must not forget that eleven people also died in last night’s attack. Nearly 16,000 Ukrainian civilians have died as a result of Russia’s invasion. Each and every one of those people was more precious in the eyes of Our Lord than every Orthodox temple on the planet.

Since taking office at the turn of the 21st century, Vladimir Putin has positioned himself as a champion of Christian civilization. And yet we can’t forget the words of St. John the Theologian: “Whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?”

Putin’s Russia has inflicted death and destruction on millions of innocent people. And, tragically, he has received support from Patr. Kirill of Moscow every step of the way. His Holiness has endorsed Russia’s imperialistic narrative, claiming that Ukraine is “an inalienable part of our own history, culture, and spiritual space.” This is why the Russian Army is stealing Ukrainian Orthodox churches in occupied territory and forcing them to join the Moscow Patriarchate.

And of course the Patriarch has also put his own “metaphysical” spin on the conflict. In 2024, the World Russian People’s Council—an extra-ecclesial organization that met under the presidency of Patr. Kirill—described the Ukraine offensive as a “holy war”. According to the Council’s resolutions, which were published on the Moscow Patriarchate’s website:

During the special military operation, the Russian people are defending their life, freedom, statehood, civilizational, religious, national and cultural identity, as well as the right to live on their own land within the borders of a single Russian state. From a spiritual and moral point of view, the special military operation is a Holy War, in which Russia and its people, defending the single spiritual space of Holy Russia, carry out the mission of the “Restrainer,” protecting the world from the onslaught of globalism and the victory of the West that has fallen into Satanism.

In a letter of support to Metr. Onuphry of the long-suffering Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metr. Tikhon of the Orthodox Church in America condemned “the continued military attacks of the Russian Federation upon the sovereign territory of Ukraine,” praying that “hostilities may cease without delay and that a just and lasting peace may soon be restored.” Those of us who call ourselves Orthodox Christians must do the same.

We, the Union of Orthodox Journalists of America, condemn the bombing of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. 

We recognize that the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, the holiest place in the East Slavic lands, has been seized by the authorities from the church, preventing the lifting up of prayers for the salvation of Ukraine and a just end to hostilities. We demand that the Lavra be returned to Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), its rightful owner.

We condemn—wholeheartedly and unreservedly—the killing of civilians. Whether these actions are intentional or not is irrelevant. We call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, for energetic peace talks, and repentance for those responsible for this fratricidal war. And we remember God’s terrible words to the murderer, Cain: “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the earth” (Gen. 4:1).