Chancellor: Lavra saw Batu Khan and Bolsheviks, and will survive these trials too
The UOC Chancellor called on believers to remain faithful to the Church amid pressure on the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
The UOC Chancellor, Metropolitan Antony, stated that the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra will survive the current severe trials. The hierarch recalled that the great shrine has already successfully endured the destruction of the era of Khan Batu, the persecutions of the Soviet authorities, and will survive today's trials as well.
The UOC Chancellor recorded a congratulatory message to the faithful on the 975th anniversary of the founding of the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery. Metropolitan Anthony noted that the Church was deprived of the opportunity to celebrate this great jubilee due to pressure from the authorities.
The hierarch drew a direct historical parallel between the current pressure on the canonical Church and the past tragedies of the monastery. According to the bishop, the monastery repeatedly suffered destruction at the hands of external enemies, but always rose again through the prayers of the monks.
"The Lavra saw Batu Khan, the godless Bolsheviks, and decades of state atheism, yet it survived them all,” Metropolitan Anthony said. “And therefore, today’s trial will not be the end of its history either," Metropolitan Anthony addressed the faithful.
The UOC Chancellor drew attention to the fact that it was the Orthodox monks and hierarchs who with their own hands raised the Lavra from Soviet ruins in the late 1980s. Therefore, “to call those who breathed life into these walls after decades of godlessness outsiders and occupiers is, to put it mildly, the height of historical and human injustice,” Metropolitan Anthony emphasized.
The bishop noted that after the expulsion of the brotherhood, desolation has reigned in the Lavra. The churches stand closed, and the liturgical life as it existed has faded away. “What was once a flourishing spiritual garden is, before our very eyes, being turned into a cold, soulless museum, where sincere prayer has given way to emptiness and the echo of occasional tours.”
The hierarch called on the flock not to fall into despair and to remain faithful to the Church. He expressed confidence that no actions of temporary rulers are capable of destroying the spiritual strength of the ancient monastery. "Earthly rulers come and go, but the main vineyard planted by Christ is the Church itself, which lives within each of us," the bishop concluded.
As the UOJ reported, officials described what they envision for the Lavra in 2051.
