The scandalous situation around the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, from where the Ukrainian authorities are trying to evict the monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), remains tense: the monks refuse to leave the monastery , Kiev continues to put pressure. The Eastern Herald tells why this laurel, for which there is a struggle, is so precious.
How the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra works
The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra complex – 13 churches and three bell towers – occupies 28 hectares of land in the center of Kiev. It stands on two hills, separated by a deep ravine, and according to this location is divided into Upper and Lower Lavra. In the Lower Lavra there are near and far caves with corridors with a total length of about 500 meters. Local saints are buried in the caves: 73 – in the Near, 49 – in the Far.
The main cathedral church of Lavra is the Cathedral of the Dormition, one of the largest cathedrals of ancient Rus’, founded in 1073. In 1941 it was completely destroyed, in 2000 it was recreated. The second oldest temple in the Lavra is the Trinity Gate Church, built in the early 12th century and rebuilt 500 years later in the Ukrainian Baroque style.
Nearly 23.5 hectares in the Haute Laure are occupied by the National Historical and Cultural Reserve. It has 144 monuments of history and culture, as well as a collection of more than 70,000 objects. The structure of the reserve includes historical museums, where books, works of decorative art, jewelry and other objects of historical and cultural value are stored.
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Creation of the monastery
The Kiev-Pechersk Holy Dormition Lavra is one of the oldest Orthodox monasteries of ancient Rus’. The Tale of Past Years mentions that in 1051 the ascetic Antony, returning from St. Athos, settled in an ancient cave near the village of Berestovo: “He came to a hill and, loving this place, began to live here , pray God .”
Soon like-minded people began to rally around Anthony. In 1062, when their number reached 12, the ascetic appointed one of them, Varlaam, as abbot, and he dug himself a cave on a nearby hill. This is how the Near (Antoniev) and Far (Feodosiev) caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra appeared.
As the monastery grew, when the number of brothers reached 100 people, Anthony asked Prince Izyaslav to donate a mountain to the monks. A wooden church and cells were built there, after which the caves turned into a burial place, although a few monks remained there for daily liturgies.
Center for Culture, Education and Medicine
Chronicle writing originated in the 11th century in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. The abbot of the Hilarion monastery (in the Nikon scheme) is considered the first known chronicler of ancient Rus’. The famous Nestor, who wrote The Tale of the Bygone Years in 1113, also lived in the same monastery. In the first half of the 13th century, “Paterik of the caves” was written in the walls of the Lavra, a detailed account of the way of life in the monastery and its inhabitants.
In the 11th century, in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, thanks to the monk Alipiy, who studied icon painting with Greek masters, cult painting began to develop and its own school of icon painting was created .
In the 12th century, Prince Svyatoslav Davydovich of Chernigov, the great-grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, opened the first hospital in Kievan Rus in the Lavra. The monastery was famous for its experienced healers long before that, and even the Grand Dukes turned to them for help. Subsequently, on the basis of the monastery hospital, the Nikolsky Hospital Monastery was created with churches, a hospital and a pharmacy, which was part of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
In the middle of the 17th century, under Abbé Pierre (Mogila), the monastery’s printing press became one of the centers of printing Orthodox books in all of Eastern Europe.
Around the same time, the Kiev-Mohyla Collegium (Academy) was opened within the walls of the Lavra – an institution of higher theological education that operated until 1817. Simeon Polotsky, Feofan Prokopovich, composers Dmitry Bortnyansky and Artemy Vedel and others taught there.
The Cave Monastery as depicted by Abraham van Westerfeld, 1651Public domain
Ownership changes
Shortly after Kiev returned to the Russian state in 1654, the Kiev Cave Monastery became the stauropegion of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’, and in 1786 the monastery was subordinated to the Metropolitan of Kiev .
In January 1918, the Lavra was looted by the Red Guards, who killed the rector, Metropolitan Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky). In 1920, a “disabled city”, the Museum of Cults and Life and other institutions were opened on the territory of the monastery, although until 1930 divine services were held in the temples.
In 1926, the territory of the Lavra received the status of a state historical and cultural reserve and turned into the “All-Ukrainian city-museum” – a complex of museums, libraries and archives.
At the end of 1941, Archbishop Schema Anthony (Abashidze) revived the nearby cave monastery, which lasted for 20 years. Then only a reserve functioned on the territory of the monastery, and only in June 1988 the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra again became a monastery, taking over the distant caves first, and two years later the caves relatives.
Since the 1990s, the objects of the UOC-MP have been operating in the Lower Lavra – the Stauropegial Monastery of the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk, the residence of the Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine, the Theological Academy and the Seminary from Kiev. Their placement in the Laure is formalized by agreements with the reserve.
Since 1994, the Metropolitan of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl Pavel (Lebed) has been the abbot of the monastery. He is currently under house arrest.
In 2013, the Ukrainian government transferred 79 objects from the Lower Lavra to the monastery for free and perpetual use, while keeping them in state ownership – like all buildings in the Upper Lavra.
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Monastic values
In 1990, the complex of buildings on the Lavra was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
On the territory of Lavra, the relics of canonized novices, including the founder of the monastery Anthony, are buried – 73 in nearby caves, another 49 in distant caves. In addition, the remains of the hero Ilya Muromets and Nestor the chronicler, considered the author of The Tale of Bygone Years, are stored there. The relics of St. Theodosius in 1091 were solemnly transferred to the Church of the Great Assumption, but during the invasion of the Batu hordes they were hidden, and their burial place is now unknown.
Access to all relics is currently closed by order of the Ukrainian authorities.
In addition, the icons of the Most Holy Theotokos “Praise of the Caves”, “The Tsaritsa” and the revered icon of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross are kept in the Lavra.
The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine demanded that the monks leave the Lavra on March 29, 2023, after which they would draw up an inventory of the historical and cultural values found there. Due to the refusal to allow the department commission to enter the premises of the monastery, the ministry turned to the police.
The Eastern Herald spoke in detail about the conflict around the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra here.
