His Beatitude officiates services honoring St. Mary of Egypt at Kyiv Lavra
His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Photo: UOC
On March 27–29, 2026, during the fifth week of Great Lent, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry presided over services commemorating St. Mary of Egypt at the Church of St. Agapitus in the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, according to the UOC press service and the monastery’s website.
On March 27, on the eve of the Saturday of the Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos, Metropolitan Onuphry celebrated a special service – Matins with the singing of the Akathist to the Mother of God.
“The service for the feast of the Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos has a distinctive feature that sets it apart from all other church services during the year. During Matins, the Akathist to the Mother of God is performed in a special way: it is divided into four parts and solemnly chanted by the clergy and choir,” the UOC press service noted.
On March 29, the feast day of St. Mary of Egypt, hierarchs of the UOC and clergy of the monastery concelebrated with the Primate during the Divine Liturgy.
Prayers were offered at the service for peace in Ukraine, for deliverance from the enemy, that the Lord would have mercy on our people and preserve those who are in despair and have lost their homes, and for God’s blessing upon people of good will who help those in need.
His Beatitude ordained Monk Hierotheos (Pecherytsia), a second-year master’s student at the Kyiv Theological Academy, to the rank of hierodeacon.
During the Communion hymn, the Lavra’s dean read the life of St. Mary of Egypt.
After the Liturgy, His Beatitude called on the faithful to follow the example of repentance shown by St. Mary of Egypt and wished that, through her prayers, the Lord would bless our land with peace.
On the evening of March 28, the archpastor also led the All-Night Vigil, during which the brotherhood performed this year’s final chanting of the penitential stichera after Psalm 50.
As the UOJ previously reported, on March 25, 2026, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry led the service of Mary’s Standing with the reading of the Great Penitential Canon at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
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