Reserve: Unveiling Mazepa's bust marks a new era for Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra
Museum workers unveil a bust of Mazepa in the Lavra. Photo: Kotliarevska's FB page
On December 1, 2025, the director of the Lavra Reserve, Svitlana Kotlyarevska, announced that a bust of Hetman Ivan Mazepa had been installed in one of the rooms. “We are beginning a new era of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra,” Kotliarevska wrote on social media.
She linked the installation of the bust to the anniversary of Ukraine’s independence referendum, seeing a symbolic connection between the two events.
The director added that the Lavra, like the rest of Kyiv, had been undergoing scheduled power outages, and on the day of the unveiling, the electricity came back on earlier than expected. She took this as a “symbolic sign” that “the light of truth always prevails, and we, together with our team and partners, are moving in the right direction.”
Earlier, the UOJ reported that in the Lavra’s Refectory Church, the authorities questioned whether Ukrainians are proud of their citizenship.
Read also
Priest: We gather near Lavra to strengthen ourselves and our neighbors in faith
At the prayer vigil, the faithful were called to keep the faith and to treasure the saints as proof of the true canonical Church.
EU launches support program for pro-life organizations
Germany’s ALfA and Britain’s SPUC have launched a program to support pro-life organizations across Europe.
Believers of Volyn Eparchy complete four days' pilgrimage to Pochaiv
Pilgrims from Lutsk to the Pochaiv Lavra covered more than 150 kilometers.
Kyiv beauty bar fires employee for protesting pride parade
A Kyiv beauty salon dismissed employee Yuliana Kaznodii after she publicly expressed opposition to LGBT ideology.
Macedonian Church Primate congratulates His Beatitude Onuphry on his name day
Archbishop Stefan of Ohrid and Macedonia congratulated the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, praising his “spiritual strength and wisdom” in serving the Ukrainian people.
UOC clergy appeal to RMA head over church seizure
The Odesa clergy called on Regional Military Administration head Oleh Kiper to intervene in the forcible seizure of St. Alexander Nevsky Church.