Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Police Arrive to “Inventory” Holy Relics at the Lavra

On the morning of March 28, a commission arrived at the Near Caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra to “inventory and check” the holy relics in the Near Caves, according to the Monastery's lawyer, Archpriest Nikita Chekman.

One of the Reserve's employees arrived with a bolt cutter to cut the locks, another was seen carrying a grinder - ensuring access to one of the holiest sites in the Orthodox Christian world could not be denied.

Members of the commission, and their police detail, plan to open the reliquaries of the Lower Caves, count the relics of the saints and take samples for DNA examination.

Employees of the Ministry of Culture are simultaneously carrying out similar actions in the Far Caves.

On March 5, 2025, an order was signed for the creation of a commission for this purpose. According to the document, the commission must verify the "presence of the remains of saints in the tombs of the Near and Far Caves of the National Reserve 'Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" and assess their historical and scientific value. If any items qualify as cultural valuables, they will be included in special lists for further reporting.

The Ministry of Culture has classified the commission’s findings, labeling them as "restricted access information." The commission is headed by Volodymyr Shornikov, director of the Department for the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Heritage. The inspection is personally overseen by the Minister of Culture, Mykola Tochitsky.

The basis of the lists used by the Ministry of Culture are those prepared by the Ukrainian Soviet Republic in 1967. In late January, a new draft inventory list was sent to the renowned Pochaev Lavra - delivered by the SBU. A statement released by the dean of the monastery, Hieromonk Andriy, stated that "in addition to the 1967 list of 58 items, this [new list] includes nearly all movable valuables of the Lavra that have never been inventoried before. This includes the incorrupt relics of Venerable Job, abbot of Pochaev, and Venerable Amphilochius." 

One would imagine that if the government were concerned with preserving cultural heritage, they would allow the institution which has preserved these sites and items for the last thousand years to continue to do so. 

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