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.

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