By Gina Christian
OSV News
Catholic and Orthodox leaders are expressing shock and outrage after a Russian drone strike heavily damaged a historic monastery complex in Kyiv, Ukraine, with a cathedral set ablaze.
The Dormition (Assumption) Cathedral at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a UNESCO World Heritage site, sustained a direct hit amid a wave of June 14-15 attacks launched by Russia across Ukraine that targeted several cultural and residential structures.
The 11th-century monastery is “one of the most holy sites in the Orthodox world,” said Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia in a June 14 Facebook post.
The combined barrage of missiles and drones launched by Russia killed at least 11 and wounded 53, according to Ukraine President Voldymyr Zelenskyy. Two children, ages 5 and 6, were injured in Kyiv.
Among the dead were five first responders in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv.
Zelenskyy inspected the damage to the Dormition Cathedral, climbing up with a delegation onto the roof, more than 8,600 square feet of which had been torched.
According to its website, the Lavra — the name of which, derived from Greek, signifies a monastery of particular importance — is “the first and the most ancient monastery on the territory of contemporary Ukraine.”
The site — founded by the monks Anthony and Theodosius, declared “venerable” among Orthodox Christians — is one of three lavras in Ukraine “consecrated in honour of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos,” said the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra on its website.
In 1941, retreating Red Army forces detonated mines in the cathedral, which was then looted from 1941-1943 by Nazi invaders. Full restoration of the church was completed in 2000.
“The Russian occupiers have once again attacked our capital in an inhumane manner,” lamented Bishop Vitalii Kryvytskyi of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr in a June 15 Facebook post.
He noted that “‘Orthodox’ Russia is destroying Orthodox shrines.”
“They will probably say again that the Ukrainian air defense is to blame,” Bishop Kryvytskyi said. “But if Russia had not attacked Ukraine, our air defense would not have had to work. We are grateful to our air defense soldiers, as well as to all the Defenders of Ukraine, for the protection they have provided us during all these terrible years.”
Russia has denied attacking the Lavra, although Zelenskyy noted in an official statement that “it has been confirmed that two Russian drones deliberately targeted the part of the city” where both the Lavra and the Mystetskyi Arsenal, a museum and art exhibition space, are situated.
Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv and All Ukraine, primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, said in a June 15 X post that Russia’s attack on the cathedral was “another Russian crime against humanity, against history, against Christianity.”
“What more must the Kremlin Antichrist do for the world to realize that decisive action must be taken so that the Russian terror against Ukraine and the very principles of peace comes to an end?” the metropolitan said.
Invoking a beloved Eastern Christian title of Mary as “God-bearer,” he added, “Most Holy Theotokos, stop Herod!”
Archbishop Gudziak said the strike was “a summons to all Orthodox to speak out.”
Bishop Kryvytskyi expressed his “sincere condolences to the Orthodox brothers and sisters, the families of the dead and wounded, all residents of the city, institutions and organizations that suffered today,” adding, “and not only in Kyiv.”
“May God give us the strength to restore the life destroyed in all the affected areas and not allow us to become ill with hatred, a thirst for death and destruction — that terrible disease that has taken hold of our northeastern neighbors,” he said.
Russia’s war on Ukraine, which continues attacks launched in 2014, has been classified as a genocide in multiple reports by the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy and The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.
Well over 700 religious sites in Ukraine have been damaged or destroyed due to Russian attacks, according to several monitoring groups.
Cutline for featured image: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko visit the Dormition Orthodox Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv June 15. The lavra was hit during Russian missile and drone strikes, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine. (OSV News photo/Ukrainian Presidential Press Service handout vis Reuters)
