Kiev, August 15, 2024
Photo: spzh.live
The administration of the state-run Kiev Caves Lavra Museum and Preserve, the body that legally owns the Lavra, has taken another monastery church away from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and sealed it for the time being.
The Lavra is divided into an upper and lower section. The Church was already 
“Christ is Risen!” Ukrainian faithful sing out in face of persecution (+VIDEOS)On New Years’ Eve, the faithful filled the trapeza church to overflowing, to worship in their beloved church for the last time for the time being.
“>expelled from the Upper Lavra, which includes the main cathedrals, at the end of 2022. Since then, the churches have been defiled with secular concerts and the services of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” which actively persecutes Orthodoxy in Ukraine.
The state has been trying to expel the monastics from the Lower Lavra as well since March 2023, though they have so far stood their ground. The state has restricted which churches the faithful can attend, and the Kiev theological schools were forced to leave the Lower Lavra 
Kiev Theological Schools forced to leave the Kiev Caves LavraThe Ukrainian government recently closed the Lower Lavra, where the schools are located and where its students live, granting access to only a select few. Thus, if students were to leave the territory of the Lavra for any reason, they would not be allowed back in.
“>last August.
And on Tuesday, August 13, the Museum closed and sealed the Life-giving Spring Church, one of the churches where the brethren had been allowed to pray until then, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
Photo: spzh.live A handful of clergy, monastics, and faithful went to pray before the sealed church yesterday.
The Lavra wrote on Telegram:
Today, they wanted to overshadow the Procession of the Precious Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord with yet another act of mockery against the brethren and the faithful.
The Church of the Life-Giving Spring, where we have prayed for so many years, is now under lock and key ????
But they won’t succeed in suppressing our prayer, for our beautiful faith will sprout even through the bars. God is with us, along with the Most Holy Theotokos and the venerable saints of the Caves.
The church was previously closed on at least two occasions during the Divine Liturgy, forcing the faithful to 
Kiev Caves Lavra: People locked in with no food, Communion through closed gates, vandalized icons (+VIDEO)The situation surrounding the Holy Dormition-Kiev Caves Lavra has further deteriorated since a Kiev court ruled last week to uphold the government’s decision to kick the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the monastery brotherhood out of their own monastery.
“>commune through the bars of the church gate.
The monastery was instructed by the Museum director to hand over the keys to the church by yesterday afternoon. A letter from the director explained that the church is to be used for services for military personnel served by chaplains. According to the letter, the canonical Church will be able to use the church by permission of the Museum administration.
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