Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra

Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. One of the most revered shrines of Eastern Orthodoxy. Founded in the 11th century by Athos monk Anthony. He used the existing caves on the Pechersk Hills as a place to build monastic cells. Over time, the territory of underground caves turned into an architectural ground complex of monasteries and churches. The area is a National Wildlife Refuge. State owned. As of March 2022 part of it is under the control of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Probably, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Orthodox Church, which supported the war from Moscow, will be banned in Ukraine, deprived of ownership and management of shrines. Such bills are already being considered by the Parliament of Ukraine (2022).

Update, 2023:

At the beginning of 2023 the process of returning the Lavra to the state began. The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture did not renew the lease for one of the temples and broke the contract for the other. The Russian Orthodox Church, represented by its Ukrainian “branch,” resists, and tries through the courts to overturn the government’s decision. The courts refuse them. Clerics try to stay in the monasteries, looking for ways to sabotage the government’s decision to return the property to the state, and to check its safety and condition.

Photo date: 2015