Hostile attitude against Orthodox Pochayiv Lavra in Ukraine from Ternopil regional Council
April 28, 2015. The deputies of the Ternopil regional council (Ukraine) voted for taking away the Holy Monastery of Pochayiv Lavra from its canonical Ukrainian Church, as reports the website pravoslavie.ru. This vote is the reaction to the petition of Ternopil regional Rada (legislative body in the Ukraine), which on 3rd July, 2014 initiated an appeal to the Prime Minister with the request to rescind the agreement between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the state and to give the monastery buildings back to the state as it was in the Soviet time.
The reaction of Metropolitan Vladimir of Pochayiv, abbot of the Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra, was very intense. In his interview to the Ukrainian newspaper “Segodnya”, Metropolitan condemns the intention to transform the Pochayiv Lavra into a museum of history, as a non-Christian action which is coming from Christian deputies. He underlined that by this action the monastery (founded it in 1240) might be governed not by the abbot and the brethren but by a museum director and tour guides. Metropolitan Vladimir analysed in his interview the relation of the Pochayiv Lavra with the State since Ukraine has become independent.