In the Ternopil region, representatives of the Pochayiv Lavra do not allow the commission to conduct an inventory and claim that it has no authority. The chairman of the commission denied the statements of the monastery’s brethren and explained why it is important to conduct an inventory.
Vasyl Ilchyshyn, chairman of the inventory commission and director of the Kremenets-Pochayiv Historical and Architectural Reserve, told Ukrinform.
“One of the claims of the monastery’s representatives to the grounds on which the inspection was initiated is the order of the State Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications. The Pochayiv Lavra went to court to recognize this document as “null and void.” However, the Kyiv District Administrative Court ruled that the claim was left without motion,” Ilchyshyn said.
Representatives of the monastery also stated that the Kremenets-Pochayiv Historical and Architectural Reserve, which has the Pochayiv Holy Dormition Monastery on its balance sheet and which created a commission to conduct an inventory, has no right to conduct it because it is allegedly a cultural institution.
“Representatives of the monastery received a regulation on the reserve, which clearly states that, in addition to being a cultural institution, the reserve’s powers include the preservation, protection, and popularization of cultural monuments located on its territory, as well as work on identifying, researching, recording, and other measures to account for immovable cultural heritage objects that are part of the reserve, drawing up accounting documents for cultural heritage objects, and preparing documentation for their state registration. Therefore, the accusations of the Lavra’s brethren are groundless, and the reserve has every right to conduct an inventory. They have received all the necessary explanations from the reserve and the ICRC, but still continue to block this process,” Ilchyshyn noted.
In particular, in his appeal, the lawyer of the Pochayiv Holy Dormition Monastery, Yuri Dobrinov, stated that the order of the reserve No. 180 of December 3, 2024, on the formation of a temporary commission for the inventory of the property of the Pochayiv Monastery is being appealed under the administrative procedure.
The spokesman for the Pochayiv Lavra, Archimandrite Gabriel, published a video on the Lavra’s website, where he noted that they have nothing against the inventory of 58 items of applied art according to the 1967 list once again. “However, we do not allow inventorying the property that was photographed without our permission six months ago [it is about checking the safety of state property in June],” the statement reads.
According to Ilchyshyn, there are several lists of items dated from different years that are on the territory of the Pochayiv Lavra. There are also lists of valuables in the passports of the objects. “There are hundreds of them, not 58. And we have to check their condition and make a single list of these valuables,” Ilchyshyn said.
He noted that the Pochayiv Holy Dormition Lavra is a national shrine, it cannot be privatized, it belongs to the entire Ukrainian people, not to a particular religious organization.
“And, in fact, the inventory is being made in order to protect the complex of the Pochayiv Holy Dormition Lavra from encroachment by anyone in the future! In particular, it is very important to take an inventory of the so-called movable items, such as church utensils, icons, iconostases. That is, all movable objects that are associated with the monument and are part of it. Our goal is to determine their number and state of preservation in order to eventually compile this list and ensure their preservation for future generations,” Ilchyshyn said.
One of the claims of the Pochayiv Lavra is that the state did not allocate funds for the monument, although this is not true.
“In 2007, at the expense of the Kremenets-Pochayiv State Historical and Architectural Reserve, design and estimate documentation for the restoration of the bell tower was prepared. The restoration of the monument was financed from the state budget in the amount of UAH 1,950,024.60. In the early 2000s, the state budget financed the gilding of the domes of the cathedrals of the Pochayiv Holy Dormition Monastery complex. An apartment building was built with state funds to free up the fraternal buildings and add them to the complex of buildings of the Pochayiv Holy Dormition Lavra,” Ilchyshyn said.
He emphasized that the commission will continue its work, work with the information collected and do everything possible to make an inventory of the movable property of the state shrine.
As reported, on January 17, 2025, despite the agreements, representatives of the Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra did not allow the inventory commission, created by the Kremenets-Pochayiv State Historical and Architectural Reserve on behalf of the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications, to work.
The head of the commission, Olha Rutkovska, called an investigative team to the scene. Representatives of the commission filed statements about the Lavra’s representatives obstructing their work.
The work of the inventory commission has been going on since December 11, 2024. The inspections revealed a number of violations, including the disappearance of some icons and unauthorized construction.
Photo by Vasyl Ilchyshyn
Source: UOC-MP wants to avoid inventory checks in Pochayiv Lavra - head of commission
