Dead souls: Kiev continues repressions against canonical Orthodoxy
While the seizure of churches continues throughout Ukraine, in one of the main Orthodox shrines, the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the authorities have launched an operation to "inventory" the holy relics there. All this is happening in front of Ukraine's European allies. Izvestia explains why an obvious violation of both international norms and national legislation remains unanswered.
Inventory of the spirit
At the end of last week, a campaign was launched in Ukraine to "check" and "inventory" the relics of Orthodox ascetics stored in the caves of the lavra, including the Venerable Nestor Pechersky and Ilya Muromets. On April 1, Kiev police officers closed access to the relics to the few remaining monks and believers in the lavra. According to the Union of Orthodox Journalists, members of a commission specially created for this event intend to "open the reliquaries, count them and take samples for DNA examination."
View from the Great Lavra Bell Tower of the monumental sculpture "Motherland", located on the right bank of the Dnieper River in the National Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War
The work of the commission, which, in addition to specialized specialists, includes representatives of the so-called Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), is regulated by the order of the Ministry of Culture of the country dated March 5. The document prescribes checking for the remains of saints by the beginning of May, finding out their historical significance and compiling lists of cultural property, if any.
The Ministry does not explain what the cultural value of the relics may be subject to inventory and what results of the DNA examination should be obtained. As noted by Orthodox missionary Ruslan Kalinchuk, the real goals of this campaign are political in nature.
— The inclusion of geneticists and veterinarians in the commission is noteworthy. What do they want to "discover" or "prove"? That the ascetics of the Kiev Caves Lavra were Ukrainians or ancient Aryans? Obviously, the tasks set are political. First, to once again defame the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). Secondly, Lavra is probably being prepared for transfer to the OCU. Now the Near and Far caves are sealed, and the relics are recognized as museum exhibits. Finally, this is a great reason to cash in. We remember how icons stolen in Ukraine surfaced at auctions in France," the expert said.
The hall of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra in Kiev
In August 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a law allowing to cancel the legal registration of parishes of the canonical UOC. The document comes into force in May 2025, just in time for the completion of the work of the commission in the lavra. By this time, "evidence" of a parish's ties to Russia should be prepared. As Ruslan Kalinchuk notes, the conclusions reached by the commission may become a formal media guide for launching the next stage of political pressure on the canonical church.
When they came for the Orthodox
It is significant that, despite the unequivocal assessments of what is happening by the international expert community as a violation of basic human rights, international law and the Constitution of Ukraine, European politicians have refrained from any comments all this time. Although the actual ban of the UOC was condemned by the Vatican, these events were met with tacit approval at the local level. Not a single major Catholic media outlet has devoted any material to this topic. But the role of the Moscow Patriarchate is being actively discussed.
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia during the all-night vigil on the square in front of the Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev Caves Lavra
For example, last year, the Bernardine Catholic College in Paris presented a study on the role of churches in the Ukrainian crisis, in which it concluded that the solution to the problem should be "complete ecumenical isolation of the Moscow Patriarchate." At the same time, the co-author of the document, Antoine Arzhakovsky, explicitly admits that peace between Russia and Ukraine is impossible if "the true civilizational dimension of the conflict between Russia and the West" is not taken into account.
According to Denis Denisov, an expert at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, the European tendency to ignore obvious human rights violations is typical not only for the issue of religion.
— The EU proceeds from the fact that any criticism of Kiev will weaken its position in potential negotiations. This is an absolutely Jesuit approach. Violations of human rights and freedoms occurring in Ukraine, including in the religious sphere, are an absolutely taboo topic among both politicians and mainstream media. After all, harassment based on the principle of belonging to a particular church contradicts everything that the Europeans propagandize," the Izvestia interlocutor points out.
At the same time, European politicians maintain active ties with Ukrainian religious figures. For example, in September last year, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, addressed the deputies of the Bundestag and thanked Berlin for its military assistance.
The traditional value of enmity
As Ruslan Kalinchuk admits, it is not necessary to count on the fact that someday the situation will change, even under the influence of changed political conditions.
In a variety of political science studies, Western authors traditionally refer to the Russian Orthodox Church as an element of Russian "soft power," attributing to it literally the same political role that the Jesuit Order plays in international relations as the Vatican's "department." For example, the Catholic University of Leuven calls this "ecclesiological totalitarianism," and in an Oxford monograph, Russia's support for traditional religions is called "cultural imperialism." The attitude towards Orthodoxy as a political competitor stems from such assessments.
— In the oppression of Orthodoxy in Ukraine, we see not only an attempt to win a competitive battle and political tactics, but also a struggle against religion as such. Globalism, as you know, is the erasure of national differences. Along with uncontrolled migration, the erosion of religious identity is one of its components. For globalists, Orthodoxy in Ukraine is the "Russian faith," they perceive it as an element of "soft power," which means that under no circumstances will they ever stand up for it, no matter what the Kiev regime does, the expert is convinced.
However, Kalinchuk is convinced that, despite the repressions carried out by the Kiev regime, canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine will not disappear.
— The church is not going anywhere. She outlived Nero and Lenin, and she will outlive Zelensky. Maybe it will return to the catacombs from where it once began, but it will not disappear. Orthodoxy is not Russian or Ukrainian, it is universal," the interlocutor sums up.
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