During ceremonial events marking the 30th anniversary of the Constitution of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on commemorating the millennium of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
The President noted that Russia has struck 740 religious sites in Ukraine, including the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra and the Dormition Cathedral, which were damaged by Russian drones on June 15.
“Yet another strike, yet another manifestation of their true nature, and at the same time yet another proof that the unity of Ukrainians is our greatest strength. That night, our Lavra stood firm thanks to our people,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The Head of State emphasized that the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra is a source of pride and one of the oldest holy sites of the Christian world, which was a bastion of Orthodoxy in Eastern Europe. At a time when Moscow did not yet exist, the Lavra was a cradle of development, where Ukrainian history, education, science, art, icon painting, book printing, and medicine took shape, and where the Ukrainian soul, memory, and national identity were formed.
In August, on the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra will mark 975 years since its founding.
“This is a special milestone. For in just one generation, Ukrainians on this land will be celebrating the Lavra’s millennium. Our national holy site, alongside St. Sophia, the Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernihiv, and many other witnesses to the thousand-year existence of Kyivan Rus’ – all of this together definitively affirms the fact that the roots of Ukrainians on this land are vast, strong, and our own,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted.
The President stressed that Ukraine will mark the Lavra’s millennium with dignity: over the next 25 years, dozens of cultural monuments, museum collections, and Lavra buildings are planned to be restored and preserved.
“This requires a major, collective effort, which we are beginning today. And we must mark the Lavra’s millennium in the same unity that strengthens and protects our people and our state. I am signing the relevant Decree here and now,” the Head of State said.
The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra was founded in 1051 by Saints Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves. It became the first major center of the monastic tradition on Ukrainian lands and one of Europe’s oldest continuous spiritual centers.
Ukrainian chronicle writing was born in the Lavra: it was here that Nestor the Chronicler created the Tale of Bygone Years, thanks to which Ukraine is among the few European nations with its own written historical tradition dating back to the 11th century. In the Lavra, Saint Alypius of the Caves laid the foundations of Ukrainian icon painting. The Lavra is also linked to the development of Ukrainian education and the foundations for the emergence of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and it was around the Lavra that Ukraine’s leading political, military, and cultural forces gathered.
The territory of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra contains nearly 140 monuments. In 1990, it was inscribed, together with St. Sophia Cathedral, on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
