OCU arranges visit of monks from Athos’ New Esphigmenou to Lavra

New Esphigmenou. Photo: Facebook page of Archbishop Jonah (Cherepanov)

The OCU organized celebrations at the Dormition Cathedral marking the 975th anniversary of the founding of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, inviting Athonite monks from the New Esphigmenou Monastery.

The festivities are taking place on July 9 and 10 and are timed to the commemoration of Venerable Anthony of the Caves. The delegation is headed by the monastery’s abbot, Archimandrite Bartholomew.

The OCU calls the visit of the Athonites evidence of a “living spiritual bridge between the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and the Holy Mountain of Athos.” The organizers stressed that services in the Upper Lavra according to the Athonite rite would become a “living spiritual bridge” between Kyiv and the Holy Mountain.

Archbishop Jonah (Cherepanov) commented on the visit on his Facebook page. The hierarch explained that the historic Esphigmenou, where, according to tradition, Venerable Anthony of the Caves received monastic tonsure, “is now in one of the Old Calendarist jurisdictions and is not in communion with the Patriarch of Constantinople.”

The hierarch noted that the brotherhood of that monastery numbers more than 100 monks, while the delegation that arrived in Kyiv represents a monastery consisting of only a few people.

“New Esphigmenou, like the monasteries of Xenophontos and Pantokrator, recognizes the OCU as a church and concelebrates with its representatives,” Bishop Jonah stressed. He also recalled that New Esphigmenou lays claim to the buildings of the historic monastery and that police had previously made unsuccessful attempts to storm it.

As the UOJ reported, Athonite monks protested Dumenko’s visit to the Holy Mountain.

Read also