Man and Church
Sviatohirsk Lavra – a History of Tragedy and Rebirth
The sad reality of continued state violence at the “Monastery of the Holy Mountains”
The Tragic Event
As reported by UOJ-Ukraine, on Sunday, August 23, the Sviatohirsk Lavra in the Donetsk Oblast in Eastern Ukraine was attacked. Monk Varsonofiy (Turyansky) was killed and two others – Monk Hrihoriy and refugee Andriy Kyriienko – were seriously wounded by unidentified assailants at Sviatohirsky Lavra in the Donetsk Oblast in Eastern Ukraine. Kyriienko claims attackers wore Ukrainian uniforms, but stressed that they were not members of the regular Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) currently stationed at the Lavra.
The murder has sparked an international outcry, with bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) offering their prayers and condemning the violence. Metropolitan Nicholas of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) sent his condolences to the Lavra brethren, Metropolitan Isaac of Germany & Central Europe of the Antiochian Orthodox Church decried the killing and prayed that justice prevail, and representatives of the Georgian Church condemned the murder. Bishop Job of Stuttgart (ROCOR) has commented at length about the attack, and called Monk Varsonofiy “a martyr in the truest sense.”
Both Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil & Brovary (chancellor of the UOC) and Robert Amsterdam, an attorney for the canonical Ukrainian Church, have called for openness and a full investigation into the attack.
