OCCzLS Primate offers condolences over monk’s killing at Lavra

Metropolitan Rastislav of the Czech Lands and Slovakia. Photo: UOC

Metropolitan Rastislav of the Czech Lands and Slovakia expressed his condolences to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine following the attack at the Holy Dormition Sviatohirsk Lavra and the death of Monk Varsonofiy, reports the UOC’s Information and Education Department.

In his message to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, the Primate of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia wrote: “It was with profound sorrow and heartfelt pain that we received the news of the barbaric attack and the killing of a monk on the grounds of the Holy Dormition Sviatohirsk Lavra.”

Metropolitan Rastislav noted that “a holy place where monastic labors are carried out and where prayer to the Most Pure Theotokos is always kept alive has become a place of bloodshed – a manifestation of human malice and the devil’s hatred.”

He compared the innocent blood shed on the grounds of the Sviatohirsk monastery to the blood of righteous Abel and recalled the words: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

“No matter how heavily earthly sorrow weighs upon our hearts, they are filled with spiritual joy in the knowledge that, despite all the horror of what is happening, ‘God is with us’ always – Emmanuel, our Lord Jesus Christ,” he emphasized.

His Beatitude Rastislav expressed his condolences to Metropolitan Onuphry and assured him of his prayers for the repose of Monk Varsonofiy (Turiansky), while also asking the Lord to grant a speedy recovery to those wounded in the attack.

“We believe that the All-Merciful Lord, Who ‘is not the God of the dead, but of the living,’ will grant him a dwelling among the righteous and bestow His ineffable consolation and swift healing upon those who suffered and were wounded,” the letter states.

As the UOJ reported, a Kharkiv priest spoke about the last words of the murdered Monk Varsonofiy. The attack on the brethren of Sviatohirsk Lavra took place at about 11:00 a.m. on August 23, 2026, near St. Nicholas Church. The attack left 53-year-old Monk Varsonofiy (Turiansky) dead, while Monk Gregory and novice Andriy were wounded.

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