Lotysh discusses “spiritual revival of the Lavra” with Azov command
The unit’s command noted the importance of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra “finally being filled with Ukrainian content.”
Avraamiy Lotysh, the OCU’s “abbot of the Lavra,” met with Colonel Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Azov Corps. The parties discussed the monastery’s “spiritual revival” and filling it with “Ukrainian content.”
During the meeting, held on May 14, 2026, within the walls of the monastery, the parties discussed the process of the Lavra’s “spiritual revival” under the aegis of the OCU. Sviatoslav Palamar expressed satisfaction that Ukraine’s foremost shrine is finally being filled with “sincere prayer for the state.”
In response, Lotysh assured the Azov representative that spiritual support is an unconditional priority for his structure, and that in the Lavra churches to which the OCU has access, prayers are offered daily for the “invincible army” and the “granting of victory.”
At the end of the meeting, the OCU representative blessed Azov members with icons of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and wished them “a swift return home with victory.”
It should be recalled that Azov annually holds a pagan mystery called the “Day of the Dead,” during which a wooden boat is burned. According to Azov’s leadership, in the fire fallen soldiers “symbolically depart on a drakkar” – a Viking longship – “to the other world, to Valhalla” – in Old Norse pagan mythology, the realm of the dead to which warriors fallen in battle go.
