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Ukraine’s top security agency notified a top Orthodox priest Saturday that he was suspected of justifying Russia’s aggression, a criminal offense, amid a bitter dispute over a famed Orthodox monastery.
Metropolitan Pavel, the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, Ukraine’s most revered Orthodox site, has strongly resisted the authorities’ order to vacate the complex. Earlier in the week, he cursed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, threatening him with damnation.
During a court hearing in the Ukrainian capital, the metropolitan strongly rejected the claim by the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, that he condoned Russia’s invasion. Pavel described the accusations against him as politically driven.
SBU agents raided his residence and prosecutors asked the court to put him under house arrest pending the investigation. The hearing was adjourned until Monday after the metropolitan said he wasn’t feeling well.