News
Kyiv theological schools opened the academic year at the Golosiivo monastery
01.09.2026 A Divine Liturgy and a moleben marking the start of the 2026/2027 academic year of the Kyiv theological schools were celebrated on 1 September 2026 at the Golosiivo Protection of the Mother of God Monastery in Kyiv. The service was led by the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, the press service of the Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary reported.
Blessed Olha glorified among the saints at Flor’s Ascension Convent in Kyiv
31.08.2026 On 31 August 2026, the feast of the martyrs Florus and Laurus, the rite of glorification among the saints of the blessed Olha, a fool for Christ who spent more than sixty years in the community, was performed during the Divine Liturgy at Flor’s Ascension Convent in Kyiv.
Monastic tonsures performed at two monasteries in the Khust and Oleksandriia dioceses
26.08.2026 On 25 and 26 August 2026 monastic tonsures into the mantle were performed at two monasteries of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church: the Transfiguration men's monastery in the village of Talova Balka, in the Oleksandriia diocese, and the women's monastery of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in the village of Lypcha, in the Khust diocese. The Oleksandriia diocese and the Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church reported the two rites.
First monastic tonsure in the history of St. Elijah's Monastery in Vinnytsia
23.08.2026 The press service of the Vinnytsia eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church reported that on the evening of 23 August 2026 the first monastic tonsure in the history of St. Elijah's Monastery in Vinnytsia was performed. According to the same report, the tonsure was received by a resident of the monastery, hierodeacon Sofroniy (Cherneha), who was given the new name Lavrentiy.
Attack on the brethren of the Svyatogirsk Lavra: monk Varsonofiy killed
23.08.2026 On 23 August 2026 unidentified persons attacked members of the community of the Svyatogirsk Lavra: monk Varsonofiy was killed, and a rassophore monk and a layman living at the monastery were gravely wounded with knives.
The case for the dissolution of the Kyiv Metropolia continues; its claim against the Cabinet of Ministers is admitted
22.07.2026 The State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience is seeking through the courts the termination of the Kyiv Metropolia of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the transfer of its property to the state; as at 22 July 2026 the case was still being heard, and on 10 July 2026 proceedings were opened on the Metropolia’s own claim against the Cabinet of Ministers.Two legal persons bearing the Lavra’s name: what the state register records
16.07.2026 The Unified State Register lists two different religious organisations whose names contain the words “Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”: they have different registration codes, different addresses on Lavrska Street and different heads.
The Myltsi monastery in Volyn: from a deputy’s announcement to an eviction claim
04.07.2026 On 21 February 2026 a member of parliament published a video address announcing his intention to evict the brethren of the Myltsi monastery, on 19 March he reported meetings on the transfer of the house to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and on 4 July the Volyn Regional Military Administration filed a claim in the commercial court to evict the community.
The government creates a Ukrainian National Pantheon within the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Reserve
01.07.2026 By resolution No. 871 of 1 July 2026 the Cabinet of Ministers created the Ukrainian National Pantheon as a memorial complex of national significance within the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve.Criminal proceedings over the blocking of the monastery’s access to buildings 41 and 42
17.06.2026 On 17 June 2026 information about an offence of arbitrary action was entered in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations over the blocking of the monastery’s access to two buildings on the territory of the Lavra.
Fire at the Lavra’s Dormition Cathedral after a night strike on Kyiv
15.06.2026 On the night of 15 June 2026, during a mass attack on Kyiv, a drone struck the altar part of the St Stephen side chapel of the Dormition Cathedral, and a roof fire of about 800 square metres broke out.
The superior of the Svyatogirsk Lavra: from custody to night-time house arrest
11.06.2026 Metropolitan Arseniy has been under measures of restraint since the spring of 2024: on 3 November 2025 a court in Dnipro kept him in custody, on 25 February 2026 replaced that measure with round-the-clock house arrest, and on 11 June 2026 confined it to the night hours.
The Reserve changes the locks of four Lavra churches while the litigation continues
11.06.2026 Between February and June 2026 staff of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve three times broke or sawed off the locks of Lavra churches and replaced them; the two sides describe what happened differently.
Courts of both instances annul the Brovary council’s decisions on the land and property of the Kniazhychi monastery
21.05.2026 On 29 August 2025 the Commercial Court of the Kyiv Region declared unlawful the decisions of the Brovary city council seizing the land of the Kniazhychi monastery and leasing its buildings to outside bodies, and on 21 May 2026 the appellate instance upheld that judgment.Amnesty International’s annual report records the steps taken to disband the UOC
22.04.2026 In its Ukraine entry for 2025 the international human rights organisation Amnesty International writes that further steps were taken to disband the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and sets out the criticism of the underlying legislation voiced by UN experts.
The sisters of the Krupytsky convent in the Chernihiv region leave their cells
28.01.2026 The agreement on the use of the premises of the Baturyn Krupytsky convent expired on 26 January 2026, and on 28 January the sisters left their cells; the reserve and the convent’s counsel describe what happened differently.The Pochaev Lavra publishes its own account of the search of 8 October
08.10.2025 On 8 October 2025 a search was carried out at the Pochaev Lavra by an investigator of the district police together with officers of the SBU; a week later the monastery published its own account of that day, and we found no other version of it.
The Svyatogirsk Lavra damaged twice by shelling, in August and September 2025
16.09.2025 On the night of 15 August 2025, during shelling of Sviatohirsk, the glass and the film standing in its place were blown out almost throughout the monastery, and on 16 September the police of the Donetsk region reported a strike on the ninth building of the Lavra: windows and doors blown out and the façade damaged, with no one inside hurt.Earthworks in Pereiaslav disturb the ancient burials of the brethren of the Ascension monastery
28.08.2025 On 27 and 28 August 2025 municipal services carried out earthworks on the grounds of the Ascension monastery in Pereiaslav; ancient burials of the brethren were disturbed, and among the finds researchers of the national reserve recognised the obelisk of Archimandrite Hennadiy (1857—1905), a superior of the house.The Lavra’s lawyers ask the ministry and the reserve on what legal basis the relics were handled
21.08.2025 On 21 August 2025 the lawyers of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra filed requests with the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications and with the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve, asking on what legal basis the relics of the venerable fathers were handled in the manner which, they say, photographs circulating online show.About this part of the section
News is the part of the Articles section that holds short reports on events in church and monastic life which the Synodal Commission of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for Monastery Affairs announced separately. Each report carries its date and opens on a page of its own.
An archive, not a daily feed
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