From Sister to Schismatic: Varvara Larin Announces Reception by OCU

facebook.com/SisterVassa

Kyiv—In a series of podcasts and Facebook posts, Varvara Larin (formerly known as "Sister Vassa") announced that she would not accept the canonical discipline of ROCOR's Synod of Bishops and chose instead to join the schismatic Orthodox Church in Ukraine (OCU) instead before the news broke.

Varvara claimed that the decree by ROCOR’s First Hierarch, Metropolitan Nicholas, depriving her of monastic status was a response to her criticism of the Russian Orthodox Church for its support of the war. She presented no evidence for this accusation; we note that ROCOR has made several statements condemning the war. 

Noting that she once studied Canon Law in college, Varvara judged the ROCOR Synod's decree as "uncanonical and shameful."

Her post states that her bishop, Bishop Luke of Syracuse, had requested she return to a convent and cease her online activism, noting that they were spiritually harmful. Varvara refused, claiming she had worldly responsibilities—such as writing a book in Rome and paying for her Viennese apartment— and could not, therefore, live as a monastic. She proudly boasts of having spent "27 of the 34 years of [her] monastic life" living and working in the world, and that she doesn't need to "consult a bishop overseas [about wearing monastic clothing] because I am not mentally impaired." 

UOJ-America previously reported of the Synod's decision to laicize Varvara Larin.

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