Moscow’s strong reaction has been caused by the investigations of the Ukrainian security services (SBU) in a large monastery in Kiev and in two monasteries and an archdiocese in the Rivne region.
Moscow’s strong reaction has been caused by the investigations of the Ukrainian security services (SBU) in a large monastery in Kiev and in two monasteries and an archdiocese in the Rivne region.
Lavra of the Caves Monastery is the seat of the Russian-backed wing of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate.
It is also the residence of the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church who is suspected of having ties to Russia.
Along with the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, it has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1990.
The Ukrainian security services explained that they “carry out checks on persons regarding their involvement in illegal actions against the sovereignty of the Ukrainian state.” “Measures are being taken to prevent the monastery from being used as a center of the ‘Russian world’,” the services explained.
The Russian Orthodox Church yesterday described the investigations by the Ukrainian services as “an act of intimidation of the faithful”. Today, the Russian Foreign Ministry called the raid on the monastery “godless”, “barbaric” and “immoral”.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said there was no justification for the raid and compared the “Kiev regime” to Bacchus, the mythological god of wine, whose name is often associated in the Russian language with immorality, chaos and the spree.
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“It’s just some kind of completely godless Bacchic manifestation. There is no justification or explanation for this. And there can’t be,” Zakharova told Sputnik radio station.
“It is another part of the absolutely immoral and savage actions of the Kiev regime,” he added.
Ukraine is important to the Russian Orthodox Church and is home to some of its most important monasteries.
In late May 2022, the wing of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate announced that it was severing relations with Russia due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In May 2019, and amid diplomatic tension, part of the Ukrainian church represented by the Kyiv Patriarchate broke off relations with Moscow and declared allegiance to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
