ZELENSKY
RESPONDS TO
PETITION CALLING FOR TAKING KIEV LAVRA FROM U.P.Ts.M.P.
President
Vladimir
Zelensky stated that questions about the lease of the Kiev caves
lavra by the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UPTsMP)
will be dealt
with by the cabinet of ministers, the president's website
reports.
The
authors of the
petition request from the head of state "termination of the use
of the
Kiev caves lavra by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow
Patriarchate by
cancelling the contract for the lease and transferring the Kiev
caves lavra to
the use of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (PTsU)."
The
petition has
already been signed by 27,500 persons, which is more than enough
for
consideration of the question by the president.
Zelensky
answered:
"In accordance with point 5 of article 116 of the Fundamental
Law of
Ukraine, the cabinet of ministers of Ukraine manages objects of
state property.
"The
authority
of the cabinet of ministers of Ukraine in the sphere of the
economy is to
conduct, in accordance with the law, the management of objects
of state
property, including corporate rights, delegating in the manner
prescribed by
law certain powers to manage the aforesaid objects to ministries
and to other
central bodies of executive power, defined by the Ukrainian law
'On the cabinet
of ministers of Ukraine' (paragraph 4 of point 1 of part one of
article
20."
We
recall: earlier,
on the president's website, there appeared a petition with the
request to
Zelensky to terminate the lease agreement of the Kiev caves
lavra with the
UPTsMP and to transfer the religious shrine to use by the PTsU.
In the
rationale part
of the petition, attention is called to the fact that the
Orthodox Church of
Ukraine is the autocephalous Orthodox church on the territory of
Ukraine, and
the Constantinople Church considers the PTsU to be the only
canonical successor
of the Kiev metropolia.
In the
signers'
opinion, it is fully just that the religious shrine be used by
the Orthodox
confession that is recognized by the Orthodox world as the
autocephalous
Orthodox church on the territory of Ukraine.
At the
same time, it
is noted that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow
Patriarchate is not
autocephalous. In addition, the higher church hierarchy of the
UPTsMP has
frequently been caught in statements and actions directed
against the Ukrainian
people, and facts in confirmation of this are cited, Ukrainskaia
Pravda
reports. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 May 2020)
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