Moscow-linked monks ordered to leave Kyiv Lavra Monastery

Wednesday, March 29 promises to be tense in this holy place of the Orthodox Christian religion, listed as a World Heritage Site, an immense area of ​​more than 25 hectares, partly troglodyte with many monasteries, often sumptuous. The whole overlooks the Dnieper River, south of the center of kyiv. The first buildings were built 10 centuries ago. For many Orthodox, it is the most sacred place in the world, the equivalent for example of the Temple Mount for the Jews in Jerusalem. The 500 people residing there, including 200 monks, all historically affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate, have been ordered by the Ukrainian government to leave by Wednesday. The movements at the entrance to the domain have already been filtered for several weeks by the Ukrainian forces. A few moving vans have been spotted in recent days. But several monks, like Metropolitan Pavlo, call to resist. And they asked the faithful to come and support them to “defend the holy places”. It is therefore not excluded that clashes will occur on Wednesday March 29, and that the priests will end up being expelled manu militari.

Fear of a Fifth Column

The Ukrainian power reproaches the clerics for being basically agents of Moscow, a Fifth column on Ukrainian soil. Last November, the Ukrainian services carried out a search of the premises. They claim to have found Russian passports, cash and pro-Russian books there. They therefore suspect the monastery of being a rear base for pro-Russian activists and of serving as a propaganda platform for Moscow. The monks totally dispute this version of the facts. Officially, they have even cut ties with Moscow. Even if some still relay the Russian discourse on Western responsibility in the war. In any case since this search, the Ukrainian government has gradually taken control of access to the Lavra of the Caves of kyiv.

Two competing churches

There is in fact a form of religious war in the conflict in Ukraine. This is one of the most misunderstood and also the most fascinating aspects of the conflict. The war in Ukraine is not in itself a religious war. It is not triggered by religion. But it has a religious facet due to the competition between the two Orthodox Churches that coexist in Ukraine: the historic Church attached to the Moscow Patriarchate, and the autocephalous, autonomous Church, which in 2019 left the bosom of Moscow to become affiliated with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Istanbul. This rivalry between the two Churches was reinforced with the conflict, a fortiori because of the warlike speeches of the Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill. He is very close to Vladimir Putin, so he considers Russian aggression to be legitimate and defends Moscow’s expansionist aims. The political instrumentalization of religion in this war is therefore primarily the work of the Kremlin. But we can clearly see that the Ukrainian authorities have now also decided to respond in this field. And this is how a day with an uncertain outcome takes shape on March 29 in kyiv.