St. Elizabeth's Monastery

The monastery of St Elizabeth stands in the city of Kropyvnytskyi, Kirovohrad region⁴. Until 2016 the city was called Kirovohrad, and historically Yelysavethrad, and the house to this day calls itself the monastery of Yelysavethrad¹.

On the presentation of Bishop Panteleimon of Kirovohrad and Svitlovodsk, by a decision of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of 24 January 2007 - an extract from journal No. 9 of the session of the Holy Synod - the monastery of St Elizabeth was established in the city of Kirovohrad¹.

For the making of the house the local authorities handed over the building of a former shop, and also allotted a site for the building of a new monastery church¹. All the premises were handed over in a critical state, and a major repair was carried out on them in stages, while services were held in the church that was being repaired¹. Since March 2011 the services in the house have been held daily¹. The building of the new church began in 2010¹.

On 17 September 2017, the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, when the monastery was keeping ten years from its founding, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and All Ukraine led the rite of consecration of the house's Ascension cathedral and the Divine Liturgy⁴. Before the Liturgy the Primate performed the rite of consecration of the newly built five-domed cathedral in honour of the Ascension of the Lord⁴. The benefactors who had laboured for the building of the cathedral received church awards⁴, and the brethren of the monastery, in thanks for his prayerful support, gave the Primate an icon with a particle of the relics of St Feodosiy of Chernihiv⁴.

By article 1.11 of the monastery's statute the house has a skete in the village of Oboznivka, where the church of St Nicholas and a small farmyard stand, and where the building of a former school is under reconstruction².

Among the holy things of the house are a locally venerated icon of St Elizabeth the Righteous with particles of the relics of the holy righteous Zacharias and Elizabeth and of the Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John; a locally venerated Yelysavethrad icon of the Mother of God; particles of the honourable relics of the venerable fathers of the Kyiv Caves; and particles of the relics of venerable ones and martyrs³.

A temporary shelter works at the monastery for people released from places of confinement, where they are helped to adapt to life at liberty¹. Charitable meals for the needy are served every day, and three Sunday schools are attached to the house - of St Luke of Crimea in the city itself, of the holy equal-to-the-apostles Mary Magdalene in the village of Sozonivka, and of St Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Oboznivka¹. A prosphora bakery, a library, a sewing workshop, a carpentry shop, a print shop, a sawmill, a bakery, a dining hall for the needy and an icon-painting school all work at the monastery¹.