Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications Mykola Tochytskyi reported that the Director General of the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" Maksym Ostapenko was dismissed due to insufficient efficiency in implementing the law on the ban on the activities of religious organizations associated with russia in Ukraine.
Tochytskyi wrote about this on his Facebook on May 22.
According to him, Ostapenko should have focused his efforts on ensuring the cleansing of the Lavra from the influence of the Moscow Patriarchate. The Minister noted that despite the support from the Ministry in transferring the temples under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the results of the director's work for the year were "inadequate to the challenges of national security."
"Unfortunately, the real changes that were expected to free the Lavra from the entrepreneurial spirit of the Moscow church did not happen. The country does not have time to wait for illegal trade, illegal leases, uncontrolled stay of Moscow monks and further destruction of monuments to finally stop," Tochytskyi added.
Maksym Ostapenko confirmed his dismissal and added that it happened without warning.
According to him, he received the order of the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine on his dismissal during the preparation of a large exhibition in the reserve. He emphasized that the decision was made without official explanations, warnings or comments on his work.
Ostapenko also noted that recently rumors have been spreading in professional circles about a "non-public struggle for control over the Lavra" and pressure on the reserve team.
"We felt the pressure. Obviously, some people felt uncomfortable because we spoke out loud about the need to cleanse the Lavra of imperial narratives. Some were bothered by the truth. Some by our integrity," Ostapenko wrote.
At the same time, Ostapenko emphasized that he did not consider the dismissal a defeat, but rather a confirmation of the correctness of the chosen course.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reporteded, the Kyiv Commercial Court ordered the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (a men's monastery) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (moscow Patriarchate) to return the property of the Lower Lavra to the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra".
A third of the property of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, which was in the use of the UOC-MP, has already been returned to the state. However, the UOC-MP is trying to appeal the court's decision in the case of the Upper Lavra.
Some of the buildings on the territory of the so-called Lower Lavra in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra will be converted into museums, and the "new buildings" will be demolished to return the area to its historical landscape.
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