Bp. Job: Monk Varsonofy Was a 'Martyr in the Truest Sense'

STUTTGART, GERMANY — As first reported by UOJ-Germany, Bp. Job of Stuttgart, Vicar Bishop of the German Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), issued a statement concerning the August 23 killing of Monk Varsonofy at the Sviatohirsk Lavra in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. Two other people were seriously injured in the incident.

In his statement, Bp. Job described the reported circumstances of the attack and reflected on its spiritual significance. He noted that the German ROCOR diocese had provided humanitarian assistance to the Lavra for years, where numerous refugees are being cared for.

Bp. Job also expressed concern over what he described as widespread silence surrounding the incident, particularly from Ukrainian and German media. He connected that silence to the status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which he said is regarded by some as the “false” church.

Below is the complete statement by Bishop Job:

On August 23, 2026, at approximately 11:00 AM, after the liturgy, the monk Varsonofy, a resident of the Sviatohirsk Lavra, was killed. Two other people were seriously injured. According to one of the victims, the following occurred:

During an encounter with Ukrainian soldiers, the monks were asked to pay tribute to Ukraine. The monks refused. Father Varsonofy's last words were, "I am a monk. Glory to our Lord Jesus Christ!" He was then shot in the head and stabbed. Similarly, the monk Gregory was beaten, severely stabbed, and thrown into a ditch. Despite a punctured lung and massive blood loss, he was discovered in time. He received first aid and was taken to a hospital. A similar fate befell the layman Andrej, an electrician.

The German Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) has been sending humanitarian aid to the Sviatohirsk Lavra, where numerous refugees are cared for, for many years. This new ordeal that has befallen the Lavra community has shaken not only them and us, but the entire Orthodox world. We see how many representatives of the Orthodox churches have reacted with sorrow to what has happened.

At the same time, we are observing a different picture: a widespread silence from the Ukrainian media and a complete silence from the German media regarding this incident. I would be lying to myself if I were to call this silence surprising. We live in a time of unprecedented levels of information propaganda and information warfare. A monk from the church considered the "false" church was killed.

The merciless and, one must assume, unpunished reckoning with a representative of that church which has been on the verge of a state ban in Ukraine for many years, takes us back in thought to the time of early Christianity, when representatives of a religio illicita – a forbidden religion – could and even should be killed for the good of the community.

The Holy Church has long since given its answer to such a phenomenon: The blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christians. If the statement of one of those affected, quoted above, is true, then the monk Varsonofy is a martyr in the truest and most genuine sense of the word: He is a witness (martyr) to the truth of Christ.

And the truth of Christ endures forever: The gates of hell will never prevail against the church! (Mt 16:18)

Bishop Job of Stuttgart

Previously, the UOJ reported that Metr. Isaac called for truth to be revealed in the Sviatohirsk monk’s killing.