The Russian Orthodox Church explained the removal of relics from the Kiev Pechersk Lavra with Satanic hatred.

The removal of the relics of the Kiev Caves Lavra can be explained by the hatred of the Ukrainian authorities for the Christian shrine. This was stated on August 20 by Vakhtang Kipshidze, Deputy chairman of the Synodal Department of the Moscow Patriarchate (MP) for Church-Society Relations and the media, in an interview with Izvestia.

"We consider any actions against the shrines, against the relics that rest in this monastery, as a gross abuse of force, against the conscience of millions of believers. And we believe that these actions cannot be explained by anything other than the village's hatred of the shrine," he said.

Kipshidze also noted that the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) has repeatedly tried to draw the attention of the international community to the pressure on the Lavra, which is unjustified and unprecedented.

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Earlier that day, the staff of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra Museum took out the reliquaries of the saints on the street. The Union of Orthodox Journalists (UOJ) also reported that "some kind of manipulation" was carried out with the relics.

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