UOC in Rivne holds charity festival to support children with cancer

Charity festival of the UOC in Rivne. Photo: Rivne Eparchy

With the blessing of Metropolitan Pimen (Voyat), the Rivne Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church held its eighth Christmas charity festival on 23 January 2026 at the “Tekstylnyk” Municipal Palace of Culture in Rivne. According to the Rivne Eparchy press service, the funds collected during the concert will be directed toward the treatment of children with cancer.

More than 20 groups took part in the event – children’s, youth, and young-adult church choirs. Among the guests were ensembles from the Khmelnytskyi and Ternopil eparchies. Special attention from the audience was drawn to the performance of the eparchy’s deanery priests’ choir, conducted by Archpriest Valerii Kapitaniuk. Despite temporary power outages and an air-raid alert, the festival was successfully held and drew a full house.

Metropolitan Pimen noted that the participation of so many young performers is evidence of the Church’s living breath and its future. The festival organizer, Matushka Valentyna Illina, emphasized that such initiatives unite people and fill them with faith and joy. The funds collected – 141,000 hryvnias from ticket sales and 71,000 hryvnias in donations – will be transferred to support children undergoing therapy at the Regional Children’s Clinical Hospital.

As the UOJ reported, warming outlets were opened at churches of the Rivne Eparchy of the UOC.

Read also

In Thessaloniki, an LGBT flag was torn down from the Aristotle University building

The leadership of Aristotle University promised to continue imposing the inclusivity agenda despite the tearing down of the rainbow banner.

Leo XIV calls on religious leaders to fight climate change

The head of the RCC addressed participants of the world summit in Austria, calling faith an important aspect in resolving environmental issues.

Clergy of Romanian Church serve at patronal feast in Krasnoilsk

The monastery’s patronal feast brought together clergy of two Churches, who in joint prayer asked the Lord for an end to the war.

OCU stages provocation to seize UOC church in Zhytomyr region

In the Zhytomyr region, raiders are preparing to seize a church following a provocation involving the funeral service for a soldier.

UOC shows photos of Lavra before and after its restoration by the Church

A selection of photos showing the scope of restoration work carried out by the monastic brotherhood of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra has been published online.

Muslims threaten 12-year-old girl in Italy: "Put on a burqa, or we'll kill you"

In the city of Livorno, a group of radical migrants intimidated a child for refusing to follow the Islamic dress code and behavioral norms.