On August 7, the arrested abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl Metropolitan Pavel (Lebed) was released early from pre-trial detention, where he was supposed to remain until August 14. A bond of $920,000 was posted for his release. According to information from the UOC, the amount of 33.3 million hryvnias was collected “by about a thousand believers”, and a donation account was announced on the website of the UOC.
Metropolitan Pavel (Lebed) is accused of justifying Russian aggression against Ukraine and using his position as abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra to spread the ideology of the “Russian world” as well as “stirring up inter-religious enmity”.
In a video shared on his Telegram channel, he thanked everyone who supported him. The record shows that Metropolitan. Pavel (Lebed) leaves prison in a luxury car.
The abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra was placed under house arrest in his luxurious mansion in April, and in July the house arrest was replaced by pretrial detention, and the new measure was supposed to last until August 14. The court set the large bail amount because of the luxurious life of the metropolitan, known for its large car fleet.
Meanwhile, today it became clear that one of the metropolitans in the Vinnytsia region, Metropolitan Yonatan of Tulchyn (74 years old), was sentenced to five years in prison. A famous church conductor and composer, Yonatan, as an archimandrite, was also the abbot of the Kiev-Poecher Lavra. He is now accused by the Ukrainian authorities of collaborating with Russia and using his official position to distribute propaganda materials calling for the change of Ukraine’s state borders in favor of Russia. The Metropolitan denied the accusations as false. He also rejected the prosecutor’s offer to show remorse in order to reduce his sentence. The decision is of the Vinnytsia City Court, and according to the metropolitan’s lawyer, it will be appealed.
