The Kyiv Economic Court has ruled that the agreement on the free use of the premises of the Lower Lavra, concluded by the Holy Dormition Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (monastery) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra National Reserve, was legitimate, according to the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy.
Thus the court thus refused to satisfy the claims of the UOC (MP) Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Monastery, which continued to use religious buildings and other property that is state-owned.
The National Reserve terminated the agreement on the free use of the property on 29 March 2023. Unilateral termination of the agreement is provided for by the terms specified in it.
According to the acting director of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Reserve, Maksym Ostapenko, the transfer of cultural heritage objects and relics from the monastery, which is subordinate to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra National Reserve should be completed by the end of the year.
Recently, the court dismissed the UOC-MP's appeal concerning the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, thus forbidding representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate from impeding the work of the Culture Ministry's commission on the Lavra premises.