UOC Forced Out of Historic Kyiv Monastery
State-backed OCU control of the Kyiv Lavra limits the UOC’s access to historic monastic sites.
KYIV — The situation at the Holy Dormition–Kyiv Caves Lavra continues to escalate, as control of sacred sites shifts from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) to the state-backed Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). On February 24, Epiphany Dumenko led a service in the Lavra’s Exaltation of the Cross Church, a building state authorities seized just a week earlier, forcing the UOC under Metr. Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine to relocate its services outside the monastery walls.
The same occurred at the Church of the Venerable Fathers of the Caves, leaving the UOC to celebrate only at the Church of St. Agapit. During the service, Dumenko announced that the Near Caves would now be under the care of a small OCU brotherhood led by Avraamy Latish, framing this as a continuation of previous Lavra restorations under the UOC despite the violent persecution his group has enacted.
The Kyiv Caves Lavra, historically divided into Upper and Lower Lavra with the Near and Far Caves in the Lower section, has been closed to the public since August 2023. State authorities now allow limited access to the Near Caves by appointment, effectively giving the OCU control of key monastic sites.
Previously, the UOJ reported that the seizure of the Near Caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra had begun.
