Pavlo, dean of the Orthodox monastery in Kiev, was sentenced to two months of house arrest.

(Reuters)

[Compiled by Chen Chengliang/Comprehensive Report] The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has expanded to the field of religion.

On the 1st, a Kiev court sentenced a pro-Russian Orthodox monastery dean to two months of house arrest on the grounds of inciting religious hatred and rationalizing Russian aggression. The monastery said it was persecution of the church.

Russian authorities have criticized Western countries for their silence on religious freedom and have threatened not to let it go.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has nearly a thousand years of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, and its dean, Metropolitan Pavlo, was summoned for trial on the 1st.

Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU) also searched Pavlo's residence that day and charged him with two counts of inciting inter-religious hostility and defending Russia's aggression.

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Pavlo has led the monastery for almost 30 years since 1994.

The statement issued by the SBU on its official website stated that in his public speeches, Pavlo repeatedly insulted the religious feelings of Ukrainians, insulted the views of believers of other faiths and tried to form a hostile attitude towards them, and issued a statement denying the actions of the aggressor country or defend it.

The Kiev Cave Monastery was built in 1051 AD and is regarded as a cultural treasure of Uzbekistan. It is also the seat of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. Backing the aggression, declaring "independence" from relations with the Russian Orthodox Church.

The clerics of the Kiev Cave Monastery were involved in leading pro-Russian believers many times to pray for the Russian invasion. After the news came to light, the SBU raided the monastery on November 22 last year to search for Russian spies.

Subsequently, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture ordered the termination of the land contract of the monastery, requiring the monks to leave on March 29 unless they broke away from the branch of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, but Pavlo refused and cursed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his family to hell.

On the 1st, outside the monastery, a large number of anti-Russian people demonstrated. Some demonstrators criticized the negative impact of the Russian Orthodox Church and opposed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s subordination to Russia.

They gathered together and prayed for Pavlo's vicious curse to be fulfilled on them.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova stated that the Orthodox Church was ravaged, ridiculed and ridiculed, while the civilized countries of the West were silent.

She stressed that Russia will not let the matter rest easily.

Kirill, Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church and Patriarch of Moscow and All-Russia, accused the Ukrainian regime of lawlessness and fabricated allegations.