The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is conducting a search on Saturday at the home of Metropolitan Pavlo of the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is conducting a search on Saturday at the home of Metropolitan Pavlo of the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Pavlo heads the Pecheri Monastery in Kyiv, one of the most important Orthodox centers in Eastern Europe.
The metropolitan is suspected of inciting inter-religious hatred and justifying Russia’s expanded aggression against Ukraine and has been summoned for questioning.
On March 29, the deadline by which the monks of the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate had to leave the Pecheri Monastery in Kyiv expired, and then the commission had to start work to return the objects of the ancient Ukrainian monastery to the state.
On the morning of that day, the metropolitan made an angry speech.
“I tell you, Mr. President, and all your flock, that our tears will not fall on the ground – they will fall on your heads… The Lord will not forgive you or your family for this action,” Pavlo said.
Nothing unusual, just Pasha “Mercedes” with a Louis Vuitton scarf
How much such an attribute of clothing costs is unknown, but you know the approximate rates of the brand. pic.twitter.com/RWtShRZ9UQ
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) April 1, 2023
The monks have refused to leave the monastery and it is currently surrounded by the police.
The Orthodox Church in Ukraine is split into two major branches, one led by Pavlo loyal to Moscow and the other overseen by Kiev-based Metropolitan Epiphanius, whom Moscow does not recognize.
Last May, the synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate adopted a decision on complete autonomy and independence from the Russian Orthodox Church.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Security Service of Ukraine has repeatedly raided synagogues and monasteries of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Orthodox Church. The Security Service explains that these searches are a systematic part of the fight against the destructive activities of Russian special services in Ukraine.
