Why is it still not possible to expel Putin’s UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate from the Lavra?

What is happening now in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, why the UOC-MP still remains there and how to put an end to this story - in the material of hromadske journalists.

“We are forbidden to pray,” says Victoria Kokhanovskaya, whom the Ukrainian Security Service suspects of denying Russia’s armed aggression. She and several other supporters of the UOC-MP came on March 19 to the Northern Economic Court of Appeal in Kyiv.

Some church activists attended the meeting as listeners and broadcast it on Facebook. Others remained outside the area. Someone with a cross or an icon, someone on their knees - and everyone held a prayer service on the street right in front of the checkpoint.

The meeting itself, in fact, was “about nothing.” Although this was the first consideration of the case on its merits, it was not the first meeting “about nothing.” We are talking about an appeal from the UOC-MP monastery, in which it demands to “remove obstacles” in access to the temples of the Upper Lavra.

Let's remind you a little

The objects of the Upper Lavra - the Assumption Cathedral and the Refectory Church of St. Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk - have already been transferred to the use of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, since January 2023.

“Divine services are held within the framework of cooperation between the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the National Reserve “Kievo-Pechersk Lavra” on the basis of concluded agreements,” representatives of the reserve noted in a commentary to hromadske.

Later, in June 2023, the UOC-MP lost its claim against the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra National Nature Reserve. Then the church demanded that obstacles in accessing the above-mentioned churches and carrying out worship services be removed.

The Economic Court of Kyiv recognized that the UOC-MP does not have legal grounds to satisfy the claim, because the agreement that it signed with the reserve in 2016 was not renewed in 2023.

“The court came to the conclusion that in the absence of additional agreements on the extension of the contracts, the plaintiff (the monastery of the UOC MP - ed.) does not have the right to use state property - the buildings of the Assumption Cathedral and the Refectory Church with the Refectory Chamber,” the decision said.

Already on July 25, the UOC-MP filed an appeal. The appeal proceedings themselves opened in early September. Prior to this, the court left the complaint without consideration, since it was not accompanied by evidence of payment of 8 thousand hryvnia of the court fee.

“Pasha Mercedes” does not have 8 thousand hryvnia

The court has been considering this case for more than 8 months - until March 19 there were only preparatory hearings, and not hearings on the merits.

Thus, representatives of the UOC-MP at every stage involved monks in the case who did not make independent demands. That is, they are third parties on the plaintiff’s side, speaking in the language of lawyers. In the latest resolution there were as many as 13 of them.

To understand: the court needs time to consider the petition. In addition, representatives of the monks may request a break when new monks are brought in so that everyone becomes familiar with the case materials. And there are also air raids, due to which meetings are also postponed.

There are also those who separately filed appeals against the court decision of June 13. These complainants, who were not parties to the case, believe that the dispute affects their rights and therefore want to be involved. The movement on some applications has now stopped because no one paid the 8 thousand court fee.

In particular, Metropolitan Pavel of the UOC-MP also wants to be a participant - in the world Peter Lebed, known by the nickname “Mercedes Pasha” because of his love for luxury cars. At the same time, he asked to be exempted from paying the fee due to his property status. He explained that he was fully supported by the monastery and did not receive financial assistance. Also, his assets are blocked for 5 years. However, the court rejected this request.

During the last court hearing on March 19, monks also appeared who want to be involved in the case as third parties. Their representatives insisted on granting the applications and taking a break to familiarize themselves with the case materials.

At the same time, the representative of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Nature Reserve, Ivan Prokopenko, on March 19 asked the court to reject new applications that were received on the day of the hearing.

“There are 200 monks in the monastery. Now about 20 have filed petitions. Should I submit a petition every time before a meeting? We can receive them for three years. In my opinion, this is an abuse of procedural rights,” says a representative of the reserve.

The court did not satisfy the monks' application. After this, their representative filed a petition to disqualify the judges. And so the first meeting of the consideration on the merits ended with virtually nothing.

By the way, before this, representatives of the UOC-MP generally asked to postpone the meeting - after all, this is the first week of Lent. The monks' representative said that they wanted to attend the meeting, but could not because they were engaged in continuous prayer. The court also did not grant this request.

It is also interesting that the monastery of the UOC-MP in this case does not challenge the expiration of the contract for the use of the property of the Upper Lavra. Representatives of the monastery point out in the lawsuit that the term of the contract was allegedly automatically extended.

“Consequently, the essence of the claim is the elimination of obstacles to the use of property under the agreement, which they consider valid,” representatives of the reserve explained in a commentary to hromadske.

Is the review being deliberately delayed?

Now let's go back to the beginning. The appeal proceedings were opened in September last year, but they only started to be considered in this March. The reserve believes that this is a deliberate delay in the process. Let us also recall the numerous statements about the involvement of monks in the case as third parties.

“This is evidenced not only by the massive number of applications submitted, but also by the fact that these applications are submitted literally an hour before the meeting. In our opinion, this is due to the fact that now there are no legal grounds to satisfy this claim,” noted the legal department of the reserve.

But Nikita Chekman, a representative of the monastery, in a comment to hromadske, denies that the process is being delayed. And he added that this question was not for him, because he represented the interests of the monastery, not the monks.

The lawyer also refused to comment on why the monastery is challenging access to the Upper Lavra’s objects, and not the agreement itself - this is the “defense strategy.”

Representative of the reserve Ivan Prokopenko, in a comment to hromadske, notes that usually plaintiffs are interested in a speedy resolution of the case. However, in this case, instead of listening to it on its merits, more and more petitions from representatives of the UOC-MP are considered at the meetings.

“They are trying to delay the process, perhaps until they find support, so that an unlawful decision can be made. This is our value judgment,” Prokopenko suggested.

And he added that the possibility of delaying the trial with statements from monks has almost been exhausted. In the case of the Upper Lavra, the case had already been considered on the merits, and at the last meeting the court refused to involve the monks as third parties.

Those appeals, in particular from Metropolitan Paul, where mandatory court fees were not paid, are also a delaying mechanism, Prokopenko claims.

“It is difficult to predict how long this can continue. However, the agreement was completed on December 31, 2022, so until there is a different court decision, we believe that the reserve acted correctly,” noted Elena Zemlyanaya, director of the legal support department of the Ministry of Culture.

What about the Lower Lavra?

It was all about the Upper Lavra. There is also the Lower Lavra - in which the monastery of the UOC MP was located. Her trial is also ongoing.

In this case, the monastery is challenging the termination of the contract itself - they are different for the Upper and Lower Lavra. Now the court of first instance rejected the church's claim, but it filed an appeal. Meanwhile, the monastery still uses part of the Lower Lavra's facilities.

Let us remind you that on March 29, 2023, the agreement on the free use of state property with the Holy Dormition Kiev Pechersk Lavra, a monastery of the UOC MP, was unilaterally terminated.

Last August, the Economic Court of Kyiv ordered the UOC-MP to return 79 objects of the Lower Lavra to the reserve. Now 26 of them are in the use of the monastery, 20 are under the control of the reserve, the rest are in the process of being transferred.

“Representatives of the monastery in this process are delaying the consideration of the case, just like in other processes. This delay is motivated by the fact that there is no decision on the appeal yet. That is why they refuse to vacate the premises,” explained representatives of the reserve.

What to expect?

Considering the likely attempts to delay the trial on the part of representatives of the UOC-MP, the question arises: how long can we wait for the end to this story in order to return those objects of the Lavra that are still used by the church subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church (although it removed mention of this in 2022 from your website)?

Ivan Prokopenko from the reserve noted that the court decision and the actual release of the premises are different issues. According to him, the court may make a decision before the end of spring.

But here we should not forget that there is also a cassation authority. Therefore, if representatives of the UOC-MP lose the appeal, they can continue to sue at the next level.