Lavra's "Life-Giving Spring": hundreds under the UOC, none under the OCU
What is the interest of Ukrainians who have been deprived of their shrine?
On September 23, at the Lavra Church "Life-Giving Spring," the OCU held its "service" for the new-style Nativity of John the Baptist, attended by only 3 (!) parishioners besides Dumenko's clerics. This church was completely rebuilt by the efforts of the monks and parishioners of the UOC in the 1990s, and a large strong community existed for about 30 years. In 2023, when the authorities took a firm hold of the Lavra, the police initially limited the number of parishioners at the service, and a year later, they were completely expelled, giving the church to the OCU.
Now the "Life-Giving Spring" stands empty. The OCU "brotherhood" team of about a dozen people tours many Lavra churches, and they rarely make it to the “Life-Giving Spring.” And when they do, there are no parishioners present, which is quite natural.
In the footage from the UOC’s church feast in 2023, we see hundreds of people. Those who couldn’t fit inside the church were pushed outside the Lavra fence by the police, standing behind the bars. Since then, all of them have been forced to disperse to other parishes in Kyiv.
No one has taken their place. The church is empty.
Any government is chosen by the people, and it is obliged to act in their interests. What is the interest of Ukrainians who have been deprived of their shrine?
