UOC Primate leads celebrations marking 510 years of Lavra skete in Horodok

The Primate of the UOC leads celebrations at the Horodok convent. Photo: Rivne Eparchy

On the feast day of the Prophet Elijah, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry celebrated the Divine Liturgy at St. Nicholas Convent in Horodok to mark the 510th anniversary of the first recorded monastic presence on the site of the present-day convent, the UOC Information and Education Department reports.

The celebrations commemorated a historic event dating back to 1516, when Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky issued a charter confirming the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery’s ownership rights to Horodok. It was during this period that a Lavra skete was founded on the island.

Concelebrating with the Primate were Metropolitan Serhiy of Ternopil and Kremenets, Metropolitan Clement of Nizhyn and Pryluky, Metropolitan Nikodym of Zhytomyr and Novohrad-Volynskyi, Metropolitan Nafanail of Volyn and Lutsk, Metropolitan Pimen of Rivne and Ostroh, Archbishop Huriy (Kuzmenko), Archbishop Veniamin of Khotyn, Archbishop Spiridon of Dobropillia, Archbishop Mark of Borodianka, as well as clergy of the convent and visiting clerics.

The convent’s abbess, Hegumena Mikhaila (Zaiets), together with abbesses and abbots of other UOC monasteries, prayed at the Liturgy. The faithful offered special prayers for peace in Ukraine and for the country’s people, authorities, and armed forces.

During the celebrations, His Beatitude performed the rite of consecration of the Dubno Icon of the Mother of God, which had been restored by the sisters of the Horodok convent.

The Primate also presented Church awards to Hegumena Mikhaila (Zaiets) and Hegumen Feodor (Melnychuk), abbot of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Mezhyrich.

The celebration concluded with a large procession around the convent.

The festivities commemorated the historic date of 1516, when Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky issued a charter confirming the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery’s ownership rights to Horodok. It was at that time that a Lavra skete was founded on the island.

As the UOJ previously reported, the Primate of the UOC led celebrations marking the Baptism of Rus at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

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