monastery

"The monastery's property is being seized and expropriated. This spiritual beacon of Orthodoxy and Hellenism is now facing an existential threat," he said in a statement.

It is home to dozens of parishioners who live on the monastery’s compound.

He said that in all the monasteries he had visited "no Buddhists regard these as corporeal relics".

Walking around the wall encircling St Michael's monastery in Kyiv, photos of the fallen stare out at you - some were taken before the war, featuring men and women posing with family members and pets.

Nearly two decades later, there are signs the Kirti monastery still worries Beijing.