Divisions among Orthodox church communities widen amid war in Ukraine

Earlier this year, clergy from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine led Christmas prayer services at Lavra Cathedral within Pecherska Lavra — or Monastery of the Caves, in Kyiv, Ukraine.  

The nearly 1,000-year-old holy site is important to millions of Orthodox Christians across Ukraine, as well as Russia. 

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine is fully independent from the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. But some leaders of a branch within Ukrainian Orthodox Christianity still share historical ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.  

“When we are speaking about the Orthodox Church, for years there is a deep conflict between at least two different communities,” said Sergei Chapnin, with the Orthodox Christian studies center at Fordham University.

Amid the ongoing war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s administration is cracking down on some Ukrainian Orthodox Christian leaders because they view some of them as allies of Russia. And this division is now playing out on the grounds of Kyiv’s Pecherska Lavra — where clergy there now face eviction. 

For many years, clergy in charge at the Lavra holy site were affiliated with Orthodox leaders in Moscow. All of the buildings, religious items and holy relics are considered to be in possession of the Ukrainian state, Chapnin explained. 

In December of 2022, the Ukrainian government decided to take back control of Lavra. President Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine needs to become “spiritually independent” from Moscow.

“When Zelenskiy won the presidential elections in Ukraine, he didn’t pay attention to the religious policy of the Ukrainian government at all. Until the war started,” Chapnin said.  

Many Russian Orthodox church leaders have publicly supported Putin’s war effort.

“So Putin weaponized the religious factor and Zelenskiy has to reply,” Chapnin said. 

Late last year, Ukrainian security services started raiding churches where clergy were suspected of being loyal to the Kremlin.

Zelenskiy’s most recent response is the eviction notice.

Earlier this month, several hundred priests, monks, students and employees of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church were given a deadline of March 29 to leave the Lavra complex.

While most members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church condemn the Russian invasion, some leaders have indeed expressed support for Moscow, according to Kristina Stoeckl, a religion and politics professor at LUISS University in Rome.

“Some representatives of that church are openly pro-Russian, and several others are maybe less openly pro-Russian, but they are suspected to support the Russian position in the war,” Stoeckl said. 

She said the Ukrainian government is trying to nudge people of faith toward the independent branch of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

But this eviction order could also end up alienating some patriotic Ukrainians who happen to be connected with the other branch of the Church.  

“I actually think it’s possible that there’s a coexistence of the two churches, even on those very same premises. Because there already is a dialogue forum and many of them know each other and also have friendly relationships with each other,” she said. 

Some monks at the Kyiv Pecherska Lavra have said they’re staying put on the holy site, and will refuse to leave before Wednesday’s deadline.