Buncheny Ascension Monastery

Beside the ancient monasteries of Bukovina this community is quite young: it was laid out in October 1994, and it is known above all for its architectural ensemble and for the large children's home that works under its care¹.

The church of the Ascension was built in 1994-1998¹. In 1995 work began on the church of the Protecting Veil, with a lower chapel of St Seraphim of Sarov, consecrated in 2003, and an underground one of St Sergius of Radonezh¹. In 1996 and 2004 two brotherhood blocks appeared, in 1996 and 1997 two guesthouses, in 1997 the superior's house with cells for the brethren, in 1998-1999 a skete with a church of the Transfiguration, in 2000 a chapel of the Nativity of Christ, in 2003-2005 a church of the righteous Lazarus of the Four Days in the cemetery by the entrance to the community, in 2003-2007 a bell tower with a block, and in 2006-2011 the cathedral of the Holy Trinity¹.

The Holy Trinity cathedral was consecrated on 2 October 2011, and on the same day a home for children with disabilities was opened at the monastery⁴.

The children's home the community cares for is in the village of Molnytsia, Hertsa district². In 1997-2002 it was housed in the superior's house; in 1999 the people of Molnytsia gave a plot of land for a new building, and construction began that same year². In 2001 a church in honour of the icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" was laid on that plot, and in 2002 the church and the first block of the children's home were consecrated². As of 2012 four hundred children lived here, among them more than eighty with congenital disabilities and more than eighty who are HIV-positive; their care is provided by the sisters of the Boiany monastery². In that same village, on 21 December 2017, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church blessed the establishment of a women's monastery in honour of Blessed Xenia of Petersburg, on the site of the skete that had worked at the Bancheny community⁵.

The community's patronal feasts are the Day of the Holy Trinity, the Ascension of the Lord, the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God (1/14 October), the memory of the righteous Lazarus of the Four Days, of St Sergius of Radonezh (5/18 July and 25 September / 8 October) and of St Seraphim of Sarov (2/15 January and 19 July / 1 August)³. In October 2024 the community sent about fifty tonnes of food - flour, sugar, onions, rice - to more than four thousand Romanian families affected by flooding⁶. On 19 August 2025, the feast of the Transfiguration, the patronal celebration at the community's Transfiguration skete was led by the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and among the guests were hierarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and of the Orthodox Church of Moldova⁷.