Stuttgart bishop explains why Sviatohirsk murder is being silenced

Bishop Job of Stuttgart. Photo: UOJ in Germany

Bishop Job of Stuttgart, vicar bishop of the ROCOR German Diocese, commented to the German branch of the UOJ on the fact that the murder of Monk Varsonofiy at the Sviatohirsk Lavra has received almost no media coverage – either in Ukraine or Germany – and explained what he believes is behind the silence.

“We are witnessing... relative silence from the Ukrainian media and complete silence from the German media on this matter. I would be disingenuous if I said this silence surprised me. We live in an age of information propaganda and warfare on a scale never seen before. A monk of the wrong Church – from the standpoint of Ukrainian nationalism – was murdered,” the bishop wrote.

Bishop Job drew a parallel between the current situation and the persecution of the early Christians: “The ruthless and, I can only assume, unpunished killing of a representative of a Church that for many years has been on the verge of a state ban in Ukraine takes us in our thoughts back to the days of early Christianity, when adherents of a religio illicita – a forbidden religion – could and were expected to be eliminated for the good of society.”

Bishop Job stressed that the Church gave its answer to such phenomena long ago: the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christians. “If the testimony of one of the victims cited above is true, then Monk Varsonofiy is a martyr in the true sense of the word: he is a witness (martys) to the truth of Christ,” the bishop said, adding that the gates of hell will never prevail against the Church (Matt. 16:18).

On August 23, 2026, an attack on members of the monastic community took place at the UOC’s Holy Dormition Sviatohirsk Lavra. Monk Varsonofiy (Vasiliy Turyansky in the world) was killed, while Monk Grigoriy and novice Andriy were seriously wounded. According to the victims, the attackers were wearing military uniforms. The circumstances of the incident are being investigated by the military prosecutor’s office.

Read also