The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate turned the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra into a business empire.

This was announced by the priest of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Heorhiy Kovalenko,

on the "1+1" broadcast during the All-Ukrainian telethon 

.

Commenting on the eviction of the UOC MP clergy from the Lavra, the OCU priest noted:

"I am struck by the story when an icon is removed from the walls and taken away. Imagine - you brought a gift to some temple, donated an icon, then you lost your faith or converted to another religion. You don't come and say - well, return the icon to me , which I donated to you. You don't donate an icon to a person, but to the Lavra. A person who brought something to the Lavra - she didn't donate it to Bishop Paul, not to any specific monk, but through these people she donated to God. I think this is very revealing story. A monk vows to give up possessions, a monk has nothing. Why bear it, why cling to it? If it was done for God, then let it remain for God."

According to Kovalenko, "this is the result, including, of such an attitude towards the shrines."

"The sanctuary has turned into a business empire for one or several people. The Lavra has turned into a place where production has been built, where there are a large number of shops per square kilometer," he emphasized.

We will remind you that on March 29, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Ukraine must finally leave the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

After the termination of the contract for the lease of the territory of the Lavra, the UOC MP had 20 days to evict.

All this time, a commission of the Ministry of Culture was working on the territory of the national reserve, which checked whether all the valuables were in place.

On March 30, another commission will begin work that will begin transferring property from the monastery to the state.

On Wednesday, the police check the contents of the trunks of all cars leaving the territory of the Lavra to prevent the removal of shrines and relics.

Some priests of the UOC MP called the eviction from the Lavra illegal and declared that they were not going to leave.

It should be noted that the UOC continues to formally declare its "independence" from Moscow, although an official examination recently confirmed its ecclesiastical-canonical connection with the Russian Orthodox Church.

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