From Andriy Boholyubsky to missiles: Moscow has been trying to erase the significance of Kyiv shrines for centuries
I will not hide the fact that I have been fearfully anticipating the possible shelling of the historical shrines of Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities since the first day of the great war.
The first signs that the Russians have finally stopped being shy were actually not even today, but on the day when the facade of the War Museum in the immediate vicinity of the Kyiv Cave Monastery was damaged.
After that, the possibility of a drone or missile hitting the Lavra or St. Sophia became only a matter of time.
And to believe that Moscow really has something sacred in our churches is to fail to realize the meaning of its formation as a state. After all, the separation of Suzdal, which would later become Moscow, from the rest of Russia began precisely when the army formed by the first dictator of the north, Andrei Bogolyubsky, captured Kyiv and looted its churches, including, of course, St. Sophia.
Before that, Boholyubsky is known to have stolen an icon of the Mother of God in Vyshhorod, which he turned into a symbol of his own principality.
And as for the Lavra, there is no need to remind you that this majestic monastery was not neglected either in ancient times or in the times so close to us, when the Assumption Cathedral was destroyed in World War II .
And what worries them the most is that we managed to restore all of this, to regain not only the architectural monuments, but also their significance for us and our subjectivity, which Moscow is stubbornly trying to take away and destroy.
