Archpriest Shkil called the removal of the relics from the Kiev Caves Lavra blasphemy.

The removal of relics from the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and the treatment of them as museum exhibits is sacrilege and blasphemy. This was stated on August 21 in an interview with Izvestia by Archpriest Gennady Shkil, a teacher at the Kherson State Pedagogical University and rector of the Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov in the Bare Pier of the Kherson Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

"This is definitely blasphemy, this is sacrilege, this is a spit in the face of the entire Church of Christ," said Shkil.

The archpriest stressed that such actions are not only an insult to believers, but can also be used to create false objects in private collections, which he considers unacceptable.

"Perhaps they are already somewhere in Austria, Germany, Britain, in private collections. These guys have taken out, now they will ventilate these crayfish, put some kind of wax figure there, if they don't bother, they will just stuff a bag of straw, dress in monastic robes, put out a wax hand for viewing, and that's it, and they will bring it back," the archpriest emphasized.

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

Also, Vakhtang Kipshidze, deputy chairman of the Synodal Department of the Moscow Patriarchate (MP) for Church-society relations and the media, said that the removal of the relics from the lavra in Kiev speaks of hatred for the Christian shrine.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.