Metropolitan Epifaniy has approved Archimandrite Avraamiy (Lotysh), a member of the Spiritual Council of the Holy Dormition Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, to act as the abbot of the Lavra as part of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).
The press service of the OCU said as the abbot, Father Avraamiy addressed the brethren with a call to stay in the Lavra as part of the Local Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
"In what is happening, I see the work of God's Providence and an incentive for all of us to recognize the new canonical reality of the existence in Ukraine of the Local Orthodox Church, which has been granted the Tomos of autocephaly, which has the recognition of the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Local Churches, which has a canonically elected Primate, His Beatitude Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, the Holy Archimandrite of the Pechersk Lavra. I voluntarily made this difficult, but in my opinion, the only correct and canonically justified decision. His Beatitude Metropolitan Epifaniy, at my request, approved me among the brethren of the Lavra as part of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine," Avraamiy said in his address.
The new abbot of the Lavra called for a dialogue with the brethren of the monastery.
"Dear fathers and brothers! I urge you to remain in the Lavra as part of the Local Orthodox Church of Ukraine under the omophorion of His Beatitude Metropolitan Epifaniy. I am ready to communicate with you and strive to work together with you to renew our monastery as a true monastery and a place of spiritual renewal for monks and all believers," Avraamiy added.
29 March is the deadline for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to vacate the premises of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Monastery. The UOC-MP wants to take everything out of the Lavra except for the relics, as it considers the property its own. At the exit from the far caves of the reserve, some icons disappeared.
On 29 March, it became known that the Kyiv Economic Court received a lawsuit from the UOC-MP. The church wants the court to rule the cancellation of the lease of the Lavra to the UOC-MP null and void.
The abbot of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavlo (UOC-MP), said that he and the clergy of the UOC-MP do not plan to leave the monastery until the end of the trial.
On Thursday, 30 March, a joint commission that will accept the premises for public use will start working at the Lavra.