Russian Orthodox leader and staunch Kremlin ally, Patriarch Kirill, lashed out Thursday at the expulsion of monks from a monastery in Kyiv over ties to Russia.
Ukraine last week announced the termination of a lease that allowed the church to occupy part of the 11th-century Pechersk monastery for free, but the monks will not move.
“The state’s ultimatum regarding the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra represents a terrible act,” Kirill said in a video statement.
Ukrainian media have reported that the monks were given an eviction deadline of March 29.
The ancient golden-domed religious complex overlooking the Dnipro River is the country’s most important Orthodox monastery, with a population of monks that until recently fell under Moscow’s jurisdiction.
A branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church announced it was severing ties with the Russian Orthodox Church after its leader, Patriarch Kirill, supported last year’s Moscow attacks.
The Kyiv government does not believe that the Church has severed ties with the Moscow Patriarchate and attacked the building last year.
Kirill called on people to “make every effort to prevent the forced closure of monasteries.”
He said the move would “result in violating the rights of millions of Ukrainians to freedom of religion, which is guaranteed by the Ukrainian constitution.”