The Holy Dormition Sviatohirsk Lavra reported that on 25 August 2026 the body of monk Varsonofii (Turianskyi) was brought from the morgue and placed in a coffin in the middle of the monastery's Dormition cathedral. The funeral service was sung by the brethren together, and before the burial Archimandrite Feofan spoke about the departed. The Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church also reported the funeral, citing the monastery's press service.
The house is the Svyatogirsk Holy Dormition Lavra in the town of Svyatohirsk, Donetsk region.
According to the Lavra, after the rite of the last kiss the body was buried in a grave behind the altar of the Dormition cathedral, beside the resting place of Archimandrite Halaktion (Vuichenko) and monk Arystoklii (Khashchyna), who were killed during the shelling of the Lavra in 2022.
The monk died on 23 August as a result of an attack by a group of unidentified persons on the Lavra's brethren near the St Nicholas church; a criminal case has been opened over the crime and the investigation continues. According to the medical death certificate issued on 24 August by the Sloviansk branch of the Donetsk regional bureau of forensic medical examination, death was caused by a through gunshot bullet wound of the head and neck with damage to the bones of the skull; the expert recorded the circumstance of death as an attack with the use of a hand firearm. The monastery reported that the monk's last words were: «Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ!.. I am a monk».
The obituary published by the Lavra says that Varsonofii, Vasyl Turianskyi in the world, was born on 22 July 1973, held two university degrees and worked as a design engineer, and that in the summer of 2013 he was received into the brethren of the monastery. On 1 January 2015 the superior, Archbishop Arsenii, tonsured him into the rasophore with the name Yevsevii, and on 23 April 2019 Metropolitan Arsenii tonsured him a monk with the name Varsonofii; in the monastery he carried the obediences of refectorian, gardener and greenhouse keeper.
Sources: Holy Dormition Sviatohirsk Lavra, 25 August 2026; Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 25 August 2026.
