In remarks to Athens Voice, Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine explains why the attack on the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra concerns not only a monument, but the very historical identity of Ukraine.
Shortly after 2 a.m. on Monday, the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Theotokos—the heart of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery complex—was struck. Its dome caught fire. For Ukrainians descending into metro stations that night to seek shelter from Shahed drone attacks, the flames visible from afar were more than just another image of destruction.
Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, was among the first to respond. During the night, while the cathedral was still burning, he called for prayers “for the salvation of the holy site from destruction,” describing the attack as “yet another Russian crime against humanity, against history, and against Christianity.”
A few days later, Epifaniy explained why the strike was about more than a building.
“The Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra is not merely one of the magnificent churches, a place of prayer and worship, an architectural and artistic jewel. It is the symbolic crown of the Monastery of the Caves, a symbol of Heaven on earth, a gateway to Paradise.”
And, he argues, that is precisely what Moscow seeks to destroy.
The core of his statement is political: “Rus’ did not begin in Moscow, but in Kyiv. It was not in Moscow but in Kyiv that the foundations of the Christian state were laid. It is not in Moscow but in Kyiv that Saint Sophia has stood for more than a thousand years. It was not in Moscow but in Kyiv that the monastic community was founded which became a source of spirituality for all Rus’.”
“This historical truth is what Moscow wants to erase—and that is why it attacks and destroys everything that, by its very existence, exposes it,” he adds.
In his view, the attack on the Lavra is not an isolated incident but the latest link in a centuries-long chain. The cathedral has repeatedly experienced plunder and destruction—from the forces of Prince Andrey of Vladimir-Suzdal, who sacked and desecrated Kyiv in 1169, to the destruction of the cathedral itself in 1941 by order of “the Kremlin leadership.”
He also points to a historical detail: Prince Andrey was ultimately killed by his own followers, among whom were the Kuchkovichi boyars, whose name is associated with the first chronicle reference to the settlement of Moscow, a place cursed by its contemporaries.
Yet, each time, the cathedral was rebuilt.
“One may damage a building, but it is impossible to destroy the idea and image of Heaven on earth, as long as there are people who wish the spiritual gates of Paradise to remain open.”
He then invokes an image that sets the tone for his entire statement: “In the autumn of 1940, during the Blitz, the Nazis repeatedly and deliberately bombed St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Hitler failed to achieve his goal of bringing to its knees a people who refused to be slaves. Nor will his successor in the Kremlin achieve it. Ukrainians will not kneel before him.”
He concluded by quoting the Apostle Paul: “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person” (1 Corinthians 3:17). “And may the day of that punishment draw near.”
