MOSCOW. March 29 (Interfax) - Metropolitan Pavel of Chernobyl and Vyshgorod, who serves as the abbot of the Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra, has denied a rumor of his intention to leave Ukraine.
A video released by the Ukrainian media on Tuesday shows Metropolitan Pavel filing for documents at a passport center. Journalists concluded that he was planning to leave Ukraine.
The metropolitan said in a video on YouTube that he had to apply for an international travel passport not because he wanted to leave, but because he discovered that his passport had been either lost or stolen.
The Ukrainian authorities unilaterally terminated the Lavra's rental agreement with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on March 29. The authorities warned the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on Tuesday evening that it had one day left to move personal belongings out of the monastery.
The metropolitan said that he was offered a compromise by the Ukrainian authorities, which said that the monks could stay in the Lavra on the condition that Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and all Ukraine, Metropolitan Pavel and the seminarians moved out. "I said that no one descends from a cross, one needs to be removed from the cross," he said.
He also said the authorities were planning the transition of the Agapetus of Pechersk Church's audit commission for March 30, and urged believers to gather for prayers at the monastery on Thursday once again.