UOC-KP cleric speaks of staff shortage in OCU and lack of new monastic vows in Kyiv Cave Monastery

A former cleric of the OCU, now a cleric of the UOC-KP, Yaroslav Yasenets, said that there is a shortage of clergy and monks in the OCU, in particular in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. According to him, in the monastery, where the OCU brethren operate, there have been no new ordinations recently, while in the UOC there have been new ordinations.

According to Yaroslav Yasenets’s Facebook post, the author drew attention to the ordinations performed in the UOC by Archbishop Sylvester and emphasized that during the same period, there was not a single new ordination in the OCU team in the monastery. In addition, according to him, two clerics left the rector of the OCU in the monastery, Avramiy Lotysh.

The report also says that in the Theodosius Monastery of the OCU near the Lavra, more than half of the residents are married clerics who live in cells with their families.

On March 9, 2026, a significant event for the Orthodox community of Ukraine took place at the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. In the church of St. Agapit, the rector of the Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary, Archbishop Sylvester of Bila Tserkva , performed monastic tonsure for four students and pupils of Kyiv theological schools. This event marks the beginning of a new spiritual path for the newly tonsured monks, who went on a three-day prayerful retreat after the tonsure.