LAVRA: Symbol of Stability
Over 950 years ago, the Rev. Antonius and Theodosius (Ukr., Antoniy and Feodosiy) founded the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Monastery of the Caves, the most sacred place and symbol of Ukrainian Orthodoxy. The Day asked the Rt. Rev. Mykola Zabuha, rector of Kyiv Theological Academy, to explain the meaning of the Lavra in Ukrainian history and modern life.
“Mr. Rector, how would you define the spiritual role of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in Ukraine?”
“In the modern Ukrainian context, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is a certain historical phenomenon. It is a phenomenon in the religious, cultural, national, and even political context. From the outset, the Lavra has been the center of this people’s religious and state life, because it was founded on good biblical principles. Thanks to that cloistered community, Ukrainian society has received fundamental and universally understandable truths handed down by generations; truths immune to devaluation in space and time.
“Almost all of the righteous that found the last repose at the Lavra were Slavs, our Saints that had once given us a positive impetus and taught us to embark on the good road. The Lavra is a true miracle, a real Godsend, especially in view of the historical circumstances preceding the baptism of Rus’: paganism and utter incomprehensibility of the new religion by the common folk. The situation was made worse by the fact that Christian tradition was through Church Slavonic, a language no one spoke anywhere. It was a synthesis of Slavic dialects that people eventually began to understand thanks to the dedicated efforts of scholarly monks. The Rusychy actually adopted Christianity in its entirety as taught by Lavra brothers who conveyed the Christian truths to people in a language they understood, in a familiar context, at a comprehensible level. Making Christianity understandable to yesterday’s heathens, proving that it was the only religion, the only truth of the Savior was an unprecedentedly difficult task. The monastery’s influence reached far and wide – it suffices to recall that Lavra clergymen headed dioceses all over Russia; 51 of the Lavra brothers had been ordained bishops before the Mongols came.
“Today, we must remember and know that everything done before us was done to last forever. Why should we change anything nowadays? The standard established centuries ago has never lost its value; it has never faded. Instead, attempts have been made to suppress it. At times it seemed that it was over, that nothing could survive. Stalin reduced our Church to a state whereby only three bishops remained in office, the rest were exiled, arrested, and so on. The worst situation was in Ukraine, with one or two houses of God still functioning in some of the regions. A saying has it that, while fingernails are trimmed in Russia, fingers are chopped off in Ukraine. But the truth survived. Even during that horrible period people would visit the Lavra to feel close to their roots, although the place had been turned into museums, warehouses, and the like. For the people, the Lavra remained a place of worship.
“Symbolically, the Soviet authorities dared not destroy the burial sites of the monastery’s celebrated anchorites revered by adherents for centuries on end, all those that had lived in seclusion and on what was bestowed upon them by the Holy Spirit: love, tolerance, benevolence, temperance, and truthfulness. All this formed the Ukrainian Orthodox mentality and it was our Faith that brought this nation to the start of the third millennium, being of sound body and mind. Our Faith also formed the Ukrainian and the general Slavic conscience, as all underlying Orthodox truths were norms and a way of life and of thinking for this people. There was no other standard.
“Here is an example. The entire post-Soviet space seems gripped by wars, famines, feuds, you name it. Ukraine and Belarus are the only countries spared these ordeals by His Will. We are not a militant people. The Church must have at one time or another made too strong an emphasis on public conscience. But again, it’s just a possibility, although I don’t believe there is such a thing as too much in matters relating to conscience.”
“What is there to prevent the Lavra from becoming what it was at the times of the Kyiv Rus’ princes?”
“What can I say? Some people describe the Lavra as a two-story structure, with sanctity on the floor below and laymen and monks above. I think that the current simplified public mentality does not perceive fundamental psychology. Regrettably, our innate ideals are at times obscured by the influx of strangers, all those itinerant preachers coming to profess the Gospels where they had been professed more than a thousand years ago. They visit homes and resorts, delivering their sermons, rejecting the Divine Tradition, and claiming their own commentaries and interpretations are the truth.
“Christians can sense that the source of the trouble is our being divided – or rather that someone has divided us. Yet the biggest trouble is that we have succumbed to this division, yielding to external and, worst of all, internal factors. The result is all those many “denominations” (lest we say “sects”). They take advantage of poverty, playing on benevolent donations and emotions of a crowd, using diagnostic equipment and medications. And all this just to destroy the standards which we owe to our roots.
“And nor should we forget about the living conditions of some of our social strata, their sheer misery and despair. Yet people believe and hope, seeking support in their Faith. Here is another example. I can’t even remember how many times the Lavra’s Patericon (Lives of Canonized Monks), dating back several centuries, has been reprinted over the past 11 years. That’s not what you read on your way to or from work, in a street– or Metro car. Yet the fact remains that every print run is sold out very quickly, be it in Slavonic, Russian, or Ukrainian. Perhaps at a time when the scale of values is replaced, everything simplified is popular only with the younger generation. Older people, exposed to political instability, seek stability in intellectual phenomena such as the immortal Patericon. A myth, however good, cannot last for thousands of years. If it does, it is not a myth.”
“Would you tell us about the Lavra’s benevolent endeavors?”
The first example that comes to mind is the monastery’s canteen for the poor. It can hold some 160 persons at a time. People are served lunch every day, but the hundreds of beggars are not the Lavra’s responsibility but the state’s. This monastery has been into charity at all times; there have always been proskurnyky [from proskura, consecrated bread] and lomotnyky [from lomot’, piece of bread] tending the needy. St. Theodosius of the Caves once took the last cartload of flour out of the monastery to feed the hungry folk. The other brothers were aggrieved – not because they would have no daily bread, but because there would be no flour for consecrated Host. The next morning, however, some benefactor brought nine cartloads of flour.
“Not so long ago, we finished repairs at the upper and lower refectories, so there is enough room to cook and to feed. The Lavra also helps children’s homes. Metropolitan Volodymyr and the archpriest of the Lavra take care of two such institutions. John Chrysostom said that bread for oneself is carnal, but bread for one’s neighbor is spiritual.
“Some may expect a greater scope of social work, but it all boils down to actual capacities. We all remember the terrible condition in which the Lavra was returned to the Church. We had to raise it to a level allowing adequate maintenance, conservation, and restoration. This took so much money – ours and our sponsors’ – that it would have been enough to expand social work. But if we spent it that way the monastery would have fallen into further decay. The situation is better now; a bit less will be spent on the walls and foundations, a bit more on charity. Let me stress that everything being done here is meant for people’s good, not for publicity and people of the media. Good deeds need no advertising.”
“How does the Lavra, and the Church in general, respond to political tensions in Ukraine affecting the citizenry, including the faithful? Metropolitan Philip refused his blessings to Ivan the Terrible after one of his bloody entertainments. During the outrageous pogroms early last century, some priests stepped out in front of frenzied crowds with lifted crosses.”
“St. Theodosius also told the Rus’ prince things he didn’t like. But there is another aspect. Metropolitan Volodymyr, together with other Christian church leaders, recently signed a message to the Orthodox faithful, urging them not to take part in any of those political actions no one needed and which had started on European Square. Some printed media, particularly the Dzerkalo tyzhnia newspaper, were markedly displeased with it. Today it has got to the point that, no matter what you say or do, they will lash out at you – not because they are in pursuit of truth, but for the kick of it!
“As for stepping in front of an angry crowd, there is no way to stop such a crowd. Stepping in front of it just like that – what purpose would it serve? Secondly, the Word says blessed are the peacemakers, meaning that inciting or taking the lead is acting against the Gospels. The more so that using force causes an equal counter force. If you do something, you will benefit just one side and this will add to the overall amount of enmity and filth. Of course, one can step out with a lifted cross; each regards things like that in his own way. There are things outside the Word and the Church.”
