The State Policy Committee has recognized the Holosiivska Pustyn Monastery as affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church
The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience has decided to recognize the “Holy Protection Holosiivskyi Monastery” of the Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as affiliated with a foreign religious organization whose activities are prohibited on the territory of Ukraine.
The agency itself reported this in its official decision. An investigation into the religious institution’s ties to the Russian Federation began in late January, after which signs of affiliation were discovered in March and an order to remedy the violations was issued.
The investigation was prompted by an exposé by journalists from “Slidstvo.Info” revealing an underground school operating on the grounds of a Moscow Patriarchate monastery in the Holosiivskyi district of Kyiv. At the facility, which was called a “family club,” 60 children were studying using Soviet textbooks, and Russian was taught under the guise of “Slavic language.” The activities of the pro-Russian organization were covered up by two official schools, where the students’ documents were fictitiously registered. Following the publication of the investigation, the monastery’s abbot, Fedir Andronik (Isaak Vorzelsky), left Ukraine and, according to available information, traveled to Moldova.
Minister of Education and Science Oksen Lisovyi instructed the State Service for Quality of Education of Ukraine to immediately begin an inspection of the institutions that were covering up the fictitious schooling. At the same time, investigators from the Main Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine, under the supervision of juvenile prosecutors, launched a pre-trial investigation. Education Ombudsman Nadiya Leshchyk stated that there were numerous violations in the institution’s activities—ranging from propaganda and illegal services to violations of children’s rights to education. At the same time, the Secretariat of the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language noted that it is impossible to establish violations of language legislation in this situation.
The Security Service of Ukraine has already launched a detailed investigation into the facts of illegal activities on the monastery’s grounds following the publication of evidence by journalists. Investigators are examining educational materials and identifying the teachers who implemented the educational standards of the aggressor country. Unlike Ukraine’s official educational institutions, which operate according to state standards, such underground structures are often used by Russia to exert soft influence and shape a generation loyal to the occupiers within the country.
Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy Tetiana Berezhna stated the need to await the official results of the Security Service of Ukraine’s investigation into the clandestine educational institution exposed by journalists on the grounds of the UOC-MP monastery in the Holosiivskyi district.
