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Battle over ownership of Ukrainian monastery heats up again

An aerial photo shows the thousand-year-old Monastery of Caves, also known as Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the holiest site of Eastern Orthodox Christians taken through morning fog during a sunrise in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Saturday, 10th November, 2018.

RNS Orthodox Christians who support their church’s historic ties to Moscow prevented the Ukrainian government from taking possession of several buildings at the Monastery of the Caves complex in Kyiv on Tuesday, with dozens of protesters surrounding the entrance and blocking officials from entering. The fate of the 1,000-year-old Pechersk Lavra complex has been in […]

Russia says US behind Ukraine’s pressure on Moscow-linked Orthodox church

FILE PHOTO: Believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, accused of being linked to Moscow, pray while they block an entrance to a church at a compound of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo

Reuters Russia’s Foreign Ministry said late on Sunday that the US was behind the pressure that Ukrainian authorities have been exerting on the Russian-aligned wing of the Orthodox Church in Kyiv.   Believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, accused of being linked to Moscow, pray while they block an entrance to a church at a compound […]

Orthodox Church accused by Kyiv of Moscow links faces eviction

Delegation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church branch loyal to Moscow, led by Metropolitan Onufriy, wait for a possible meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to discuss the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery issue, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 20th March, 2023

Kyiv, Ukraine Reuters Eight bishops wearing robes and mitres went to the Ukrainian President’s offices this week to try to stop their historically Russian-aligned wing of the Orthodox Church being evicted from its Kyiv headquarters. They got only as far as a checkpoint, where they were turned back, and their request for a meeting on […]

Demand by Orthodox Church of Ukraine over monastery could widen rift

Ukraine Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery

Kyiv, UkraineReuters The Orthodox Church of Ukraine is seeking permission from the government to take over a building on the grounds of a historic monastery in Kyiv, a move likely to widen a rift with a separate Ukrainian church that adheres to Moscow. The sprawling Kyiv Pechersk Lavra complex is a Ukrainian cultural treasure and […]

Kyiv shrines, memorials with powerful symbolic value at risk

Ukraine Kyiv Monastery of the Caves

AP Kyiv, bracing for a potentially catastrophic Russian attack, is the spiritual heart of Ukraine. Among the sites at risk in the Ukrainian capital are the nation’s most sacred Orthodox shrines, dating back nearly 1,000 years to the dawn of Christianity in the region. The sites, along with other landmark shrines in Kyiv, are religiously significant […]