The rite of monastic tonsure into the mantle was performed at the end of August at two monasteries of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, one in the Oleksandriia diocese and one in the Khust diocese. The tonsures were reported by the Oleksandriia diocese on its own site and by the Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which cited the diocesan press services.
The earlier of the two took place on 25 August in the village of Talova Balka, in the Oleksandriia diocese, where the Transfiguration men's monastery stands. The diocese reported that the rite was led by Metropolitan Boholiep of Oleksandriia and Svitlovodsk and that it was performed in the church of All Saints of Our Land.
According to the same report, three clergymen were tonsured into the angelic habit and received new names: archpriest Oleksandr Shniakin became hieromonk Ahafon, after Saint Agathon of the Caves; archpriest Oleksandr Khrapko became hieromonk Anikita, after the martyr Anicetus of Nicomedia; and archpriest Heorhii Hladysh became hieromonk Herasym, after Saint Gerasimos of the Jordan.
The brethren of the house and parishioners of the monastery prayed at the service, the diocese noted. After the rite Metropolitan Boholiep addressed the newly tonsured hieromonks with a word of instruction and wished them spiritual courage, patience and faithfulness to the vows they had taken, while the abbot of the house, archimandrite Serafym (Krasnov), thanked the hierarch for his archpastoral prayers and for the tonsure he had performed.
The following day, 26 August, a tonsure was performed in the village of Lypcha, in the Khust diocese, where the women's monastery of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos stands.
This was reported by the Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, citing the diocesan press service: according to its account the rite was performed by the vicar of the Khust diocese, Bishop Mark of Rakhiv, with the blessing of Metropolitan Mark of Khust and Vynohradiv, and a novice of the house, Nataliia, was tonsured into the mantle and received the monastic name Kseniia.
Sources: Oleksandriia diocese, 26 August 2026; Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 27 August 2026.
