The state will insist that the UOC (MP) vacate the premises of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, at the same time acting exclusively within the legal framework. Following the decision to terminate the lease agreement with the Russian-affiliated church, the occupiers have been hysterical in public appearances.
Archpriest Leonid Kalinin of the Russian Orthodox Church declared on the air of one of the Russian radio stations that the steps to restore the spiritual unity of Ukraine are, as he claims a cry for the coming of the Antichrist. That’s according to Channel 24.
According to him, after the expulsion of the Moscow monks from the cathedral premises, the “abomination of desolation” may come there. In fact, it is not known for sure what he had in mind, but from the stream of meaningless words, it seems that the priest wanted to say something about the “cultural decline of unfortunate Ukraine.”
“I believe that this is the movement of the Antichrist. The Antichrist is already walking on the once holy land, in which there were so many saints, and still are. From the Christian point of view, this is complete blasphemy. The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra was in such a terrible condition before the monks came there. Although it was a museum object, so many piles of garbage, all sorts of junk had to be removed from there,” Leonid Kalinin said.
In fact, his words should not be taken seriously. Ukrainian shrines were in decline during the times of the Soviet Union and this happened under the direct instructions coming from Moscow. The restoration of the said shrine became possible thanks to the priests of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate, who threw out of the Lavra the junk that their direct predecessors had dragged there.
