Orthodox church resists eviction

Scuffles broke out outside a Kyiv monastery on Thursday after a Ukrainian branch of the Orthodox Church accused by the government of having ties with Russia defied an eviction order.

Tensions over the presence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) at the 980-yearold Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery have risen since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Hours after a deadline to leave the monastery passed at midnight on Wednesday, members of the UOC refused entry to a government representative who came to inspect buildings in the gold-domed monastery’s sprawling complex.

Shortly afterwards, Reuters correspondents saw UOC representatives trying to prevent journalists filming a cleric as he walked inside the monastery grounds.

The UOC is Ukraine’s second-largest church, though most Ukrainian Orthodox believers belong to a separate branch of the faith, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, formed four years ago by branches independent of Moscow’s authority.

The government says the UOC broke tenancy agreements and constructed buildings at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra illegally. The UOC denies this and says the government has not shown it documents providing proof.

The UOC says it broke all links with the Russian Church in May 2022 and that it has taken the government to court over what it casts as an illegal eviction, and that it has no plans to leave until there is a ruling in the case.