On 23 August 2026, at about eleven in the morning, unidentified persons entered the grounds of the Svyatogirsk Holy Dormition Lavra and attacked members of the community. Monk Varsonofiy (Turyanskyi) was killed; the rassophore monk Hryhoriy and Andriy Kyriyenko, a layman living at the monastery, suffered knife wounds and were taken to hospital, first in Sloviansk and then in Kharkiv.
The same day the police entered the facts in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations under article 115 of the Criminal Code (premeditated murder) and under article 15 part 2 together with article 115 (attempted premeditated murder); the case is supervised by the Specialised Prosecutor’s Office for Defence of the Eastern Region. The investigation is continuing.
Who carried out the attack, and for what motive, has not been established; the police have released no further details. On the evening of 23 August the brethren served a panikhida for the newly departed monk Varsonofiy, and the monastery asks for prayers for his repose and for the recovery of the wounded.
Sources: Information and Education Department of the UOC, 23 August 2026; the same department citing the National Police, 26 August 2026; Ukrainska Pravda, 24 August 2026.
