Protection of the Mother of God Convent

The convent of the Protection of the Mother of God stands in the village of Molodiya, Hlyboka district, Chernivtsi region¹. The house was founded by sisters from the monastery of the holy great martyr John of Sochava, "Slatina"².

The making of the house began with the laying, in 2006, of the Protection church and of a residential block, and while the building went on the sisters lived for a time at the Presentation convent in Chernivtsi². As of 2009 the church of the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God had been raised to its vaults and the sisters were living in temporary cabins, but in that same year the residential block was consecrated². As of 2010 the house counted a residential block, a "temporary" Protection church, a church of the holy great martyr John of Sochava, which had been "raised under its vaults", and a temporary refectory; in that same year the building of a refectory block began².

On 14 June 2011 the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church heard the report of Metropolitan Onufriy of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna on the opening of a convent in honour of the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God in the village of Molodiya, Hlyboka district, Chernivtsi region, and blessed that opening¹.

On 15 June 2015, the day of the memory of the great martyr John of Sochava, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and All Ukraine performed the consecration of the church in honour of that saint in the Protection convent of the village of Molodiya⁴. He was concelebrated by Bishop Yevsevii of Khotyn and the clergy of the eparchy⁴. After the consecration the Primate celebrated the Divine Liturgy, during which he ordained to the priesthood deacon Heorhiy Moroz of the Storozhynets deanery⁴. After the dismissal he gave church honours to the benefactors of the monastery and greeted the sisters of the house and the guests on the patronal feast⁴.

The holy great martyr John of Sochava is held to be the heavenly patron of Bukovyna⁴. He lived in the fourteenth century in the Greek city of Trebizond, was a merchant, and for keeping his faith in Christ endured many torments and was put to death at Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi⁴.

The house keeps the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God on 1 (14) October, and the memory of the holy great martyr John of Sochava on 2 (15) June³.