As Ukraine celebrated the culmination of the Orthodox year, the capital’s Pechersk Lavra, a monastery complex under the Moscow Patriarch’s leadership, held an Easter service under unusually tense circumstances.
Usually the streets of Ukraine on the night before Easter will be dotted with Orthodox believers who go to church. Easter services in the Orthodox world begin the night before and end at dawn on Sunday – symbolizing the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
But in wartime Ukraine, every city is subject to a strict curfew, which usually begins in the middle of the evening and lasts until early in the morning.
To allow for Easter celebrations, several Kiev churches, including the UNESCO-protected Pechersk Lavra, have been allowed to hold locks. Instead of coming and going as they wished, the faithful had to stay inside the historic fenced complex from 11 pm on Saturday to 5 am on Sunday.
The Pechersk Lavra remains in line with the Moscow Patriarch after the 2018 independence vote Photo: Ed Ram / Guardian
For more than 400 years, the only Orthodox church in Ukraine recognized by Constantinople has been the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, united with the Moscow Patriarch. But in 2018, after decades of campaigning, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, seen as the leading authority on the world’s 300 million Orthodox worshipers, granted Ukraine the right to an independent church.
Hundreds of Ukrainian parishes voted for the replacement, although thousands more remained with the Moscow patriarch. Key historical sites around Ukraine, the birthplace of Eastern European Orthodoxy, are now controlled by priests of various backgrounds.
The Pechersk Lavra is the one left by the Moscow Patriarch (the 1,000-year-old Hagia Sophia is controlled by the Kiev Patriarch), and until recently, Ukrainian intelligence services considered its religious leaders agents of the Kremlin because of their ties to Moscow. The clerics now claim to be independent of Moscow and have spoken out against “Russia’s war against Ukraine”, gaining the support of advisers to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
At the invitation of one of the high priests of the Pechersk Lavra, the Guardian was placed in the hand-painted interior of the 18th-century Refectory Church – one of the monastery’s 12 churches located on the banks of the river in Kyiv – for its night worship. .
The worshipers had to stay in the Refectory Church for six hours due to curfew during the war. Photo: Ed Ram / Guardian
In the main part of the church, the faithful kept their seats for a long night around the altar. At the other end of the church, a line of believers formed for confession, which in Orthodoxy is achieved by kissing an icon with a priest standing over the believer, covering the believer’s head with his fur. The service was broadcast live to those who could not attend.
But less than an hour later, the priests at the altar stopped singing to issue an unscheduled announcement: “It is forbidden to take pictures, please stop the person who is taking pictures now.” The clergyman, Metropolitan Pavel, who led the Easter service and is being investigated by Ukrainian authorities on charges of inciting religious hatred, said we should leave.
“You have to understand [Ukrainian] The Ministry of Culture will not like the fact that there are many people here, “said the assistant priest. “We do not want them to close the laurels.
Pechersk Lavra priests now claim to be independent of Moscow and have spoken out against “Russia’s war against Ukraine.” Photo: Ed Ram / Guardian
The official live broadcast was allowed, as church video cameras were set up to cover the number of believers, the ace explained.
“We do not want anyone to know [how many came]”He said. Showing a live broadcast of the locking service conducted by the” others “at the independent Ukrainian St. Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv, he said fewer people were present.
“No one wants to be photographed,” said a second assistant, who complained that hundreds of journalists would attend the Easter service before the war.
The first assistant said that the Ministry of Culture has limited the number of believers who can attend the lock and that even by conducting services, they are breaking the law – however, a priest at St. Michael’s Cathedral, with whom the Guardian spoke, said there were no such restrictions. .
“We live in a right-wing state,” said the first assistant. “The president supports us, but there are people who want to take away our Lavra – to physically take it away.
The service was broadcast live, although the clergy preferred an opaque image of the number of worshipers present. Photo: Ed Ram / Guardian
Asked who he meant, he called Ukraine’s far-right Right Sector Battalion, which was formed to fight Russian-backed separatists in 2014. Since then, Kremlin propaganda has exaggerated the group’s strength and popularity in Ukraine and repeatedly accused Ukrainians against Moscow of is a member of the Right Sector. “This war is a mistake,” the assistant said.
Vladimir Putin used Moscow’s historic dominance over churches in Ukraine as a key argument for Russia’s right to control the country, and was angry when Kyiv gained independence. After the full-scale invasion of Russia, Moscow Patriarch Kirill presented it as a holy war and was an active supporter of the work of Russian troops in Ukraine.
But on Easter Saturday, Patriarch Cyril was much more restrained. He appears to have given up his position on violence and called for an end to the conflict – although he did not criticize it.
Assistants to the metropolitans said it was not their place to comment on Patriarch Kirill’s position. “We helped many refugees – we accommodated them in our dormitory in the Lavra. “Ten of our priests are currently traveling to Mariupol to observe the funerals,” said one.
“Metropolitan Onuphrius [the head representative in Kyiv of the Moscow Patriarch Church in Ukraine] called it Russian aggression, but some people in the authorities put us in a box.
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