Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Pavel: The Lord will not forgive Zelensky the eviction of monks

The vicar of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Bishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Pavel (in the world Peter the Swan) recorded a video message to the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky in connection with the eviction of monks from the monastery.

"Mr. President! I tell you and your pack that our tears will not fall to the ground, they will fall on your head. Do you think that, having come into power on our backs, you can do this? The Lord will not forgive you or your family!", - the priest said.

By his decision, the Ukrainian president "threw 220 people into the street". He did not meet with Metropolitan Onufriy of Kiev to resolve the issue and decided not to "stop" the Minister of Culture Alexander Tkachenko, whom the metropolitan called "possessed by rabies":

"So he does everything with your permission. Woe to you. Be afraid! Many monks have been living in the lavra since 1988 and they have nowhere to go in case of eviction.

On the eve of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church appealed to the court to challenge the decision to evict the monks from the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. Pavel called on the "powers that be" to abandon the pressure on the judges and the Lavra.

It's worth reminding that on March 10, the directorate of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Reserve decided to terminate the indefinite lease agreement with the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and ordered the monks to leave the monastery by March 29. The reason for this is called "violation by the monastery of the terms of the contract on the use of state property", which was discovered by a special commission created by the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture at the end of last year.