Orthodox Bukovynians deliver foods to Sviatohirsk Lavra ahead of Easter

A monk of the Sviatohirsk Lavra. Photo: svlavra.church.ua

On April 15, 2025 – Holy Tuesday – volunteers from the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church delivered ten tons of humanitarian aid to the Sviatohirsk Lavra. According to the Lavra’s press service, in addition to residents of Chernivtsi and the surrounding region, Orthodox Christians from across Ukraine and abroad – including Belgium, Germany, and Poland – participated in this pre-Easter act of charity.

The shipment included over 24,000 eggs, 100 kilograms of margarine, butter and other ingredients needed for baking Easter bread (kulichi), as well as cheese, vegetables, fruit, canned goods, cleaning supplies, personal hygiene products, raincoats and rubber boots for the brethren, grain for the monastery’s poultry yard, and a vacuum cleaner for cleaning the altar of the Lavra’s Dormition Cathedral.

“We thank all the donors for their compassion for the fate of the Holy Mountains. This appeal for help drew a remarkable response. Everyone wanted to contribute something to the Easter gift for the Lavra’s monastics so that even those in the frontline zone could have a true celebration. Because today, due to the war, not everyone can celebrate Easter as they once did,” said volunteer Oksana (Maria) Tsiuha.

She extended special thanks to Magdalyna and her sisters in Christ, Bukovynian women living in Belgium; a Bukovinian priest who donated 120 Lenten poppy-seed rolls; and to businesspeople Lyudmyla, Mykhailo, Volodymyr, and Mykola.

According to the volunteer, parishioners from rural churches donated over 8,000 farm eggs for baking Easter bread. The collection took place in the villages of Volchynets, Drachenkivtsi, Koroviia, Pryvoroky, Tovtry, Chernivka, Chunchkiv, and the town of Storozhynets. Believers from the Kamianets-Podilskyi Eparchy of the UOC also participated and helped purchase butter.

The faithful from the German Eparchy and its diocesan charity fund contributed to the purchase of food for the Lavra’s Easter table.

“We would also like to thank the women from Bukovyna who, on the occasion of the Bright Feast of Christ’s Resurrection, decided to bring joy to the Lavra’s youngest parishioners by purchasing Easter gift sets. Each set included two kinds of cheese, two kinds of smoked sausage, butter, sweets, and fruit,” Maria added.

The Bukovynians also delivered aid to the Intercession Convent in the city of Lyman and to the Lavra’s Skete of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco in the village of Adamivka.

As the UOJ previously reported, believers from Bukovyna had earlier transported 30 tons of humanitarian aid to the Sviatohirsk Lavra.

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