Pochaiv Lavra Given Additional 60 Days To Sever Ties With ROC

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) DESS Head Viktor Yelensky told an Ukrinform correspondent.

“Lawyers representing the religious organization Pochaiv Holy Dormition Lavra appealed to the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience with a request to extend the deadline for complying with the order to remedy violations of legislation on freedom of conscience and religious organizations. This possibility is provided for by the Law on Protecting the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations, which stipulates that, upon a justified request, the deadline for compliance with an order may be extended by 60 days,” Yelensky said.

According to him, the order issued by DESS to the Pochaiv Lavra following a study into signs of affiliation contains two main requirements.

“The first is to withdraw from the Kyiv Metropolia of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which under Ukrainian law has been recognized as affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). The second requirement is for Metropolitan Volodymyr Moroz, abbot of the Pochaiv Holy Dormition Lavra, to withdraw from the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.

“The request to extend the deadline states that the abbot of the Pochaiv Lavra does not have the authority to independently decide to withdraw from the metropolia. To do so, the spiritual council of the Pochaiv Lavra must be convened in accordance with the charter of the religious organization, which, accordingly, requires more time.

“The second justification for extending the deadline is that the materials received by the religious organization as evidence that it is part of the ROC are in Russian, so they need to be translated. These include, in particular, screenshots from the official ROC website stating that Metropolitan Volodymyr Moroz is a member of the ROC Bishops' Council,” Yelensky said.

In response to the request, DESS granted the Pochaiv Lavra an additional 60 days to comply with the order.

“After 60 days, we expect them either to comply with the order or, if they fail to do so and the spiritual council of the Pochaiv Lavra makes a different decision, this religious organization will be recognized as affiliated with the ROC, which is banned in Ukraine, and a lawsuit will immediately be filed in court seeking the dissolution of this religious organization,” Yelensky added.

At the same time, the DESS head recalled that the Kyiv Metropolia of the UOC, which is the center of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, has already received an order from the Service containing four requirements.

“The first is to ensure decisions on the withdrawal of all parishes, dioceses, monasteries, educational institutions, missions, brotherhoods and sisterhoods from the ROC. The second is to ensure a decision on the withdrawal of the head of the UOC from the ROC Holy Synod.

“The third is to invalidate for the UOC the ROC charter that subordinates the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the Moscow Patriarchate and which, that is, the charter, was voted on by UOC bishops at the ROC Bishops' Council in Moscow in 2017.

“And the fourth is to condemn and refuse to recognize the ROC's annexation of eight dioceses of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Crimea and eastern Ukraine,” Yelensky said.

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According to him, the Kyiv Metropolia refused to comply with the order. As a result, it was recognized as affiliated with the ROC, which is banned in Ukraine, and, in accordance with the law on protecting the constitutional order in the sphere of activities of religious organizations, DESS immediately filed a lawsuit seeking its dissolution in August 2025. The court proceedings in the case are ongoing. The next hearing is scheduled for September 10.

As reported by Ukrinform, on July 22, DESS published the findings of its study into signs of affiliation between the Pochaiv Holy Dormition Lavra and the Russian Orthodox Church, a foreign religious organization whose activities are banned in Ukraine.

On July 27, the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience issued the Pochaiv Lavra an order to sever its ties with the ROC, which is banned in Ukraine, within 30 days.

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