On 7 January, the Head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, will celebrate the Liturgy on the occasion of the Nativity of Christ in the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, the press service of the OCU reports.
The press service of the OCU clarified that the service would begin at 9:00 and invited Ukrainian believers to pray together.
Earlier, the Head of State Ethnic Policy Viktor Yelenskyy said that the Ministry of Culture and the National Preserve Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra discovered serious violations in the operation of two churches in the Upper Lavra. The Upper Lavra will be closed until the end of the commission's work, which should record these violations and eliminate them if possible.
Viktor Yelenskyy noted that there would be permits for worship in these churches, but of course, there would be no monopoly of the Moscow Patriarchate.
The Ministry of Culture will recommend the Lavra Preserve not to extend the agreement with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate on the lease of the Dormition Cathedral and the Refectory Church in the Upper Lavra.
