The abbess of the St. Nicholas Convent in Krupitsy, part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which was recently seized by the state from the Church, has passed away

On August 6, 2026, at the age of 77, Abbess Dorothea (Kokhlova), abbess of the St. Nicholas Convent in Krupitsy, passed away. According to , the Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the sad news was received from the press service of the Nezhin Diocese.

Abbess Dorothea (born Valentina Ivanovna Khokhlova) was born on September 16, 1949, in Kazakhstan. Before taking monastic vows, she worked as a mathematics teacher, having graduated from the Dzhambyl Pedagogical Institute. Her spiritual journey began in Odessa, where she actively participated in the life of the Holy Dormition Men’s Monastery; later, in 1996, she became a novice at the Gustyn Women’s Monastery in the Chernihiv region.

In 1998, she was tonsured and given the name Dorothea. Beginning in 2000, with the blessing of the Holy Synod, Abbess Dorothea worked to revive the St. Nicholas Convent in Krupitsa. Under her leadership, large-scale restoration work was carried out to rebuild the church, the monastery buildings, and the monastery wall, all of which had fallen into ruin.

The final years of the abbess’s life were overshadowed by external circumstances: in early 2026, the administration of the “Hetman Capital” Historical Reserve attempted to evict the nuns from the monastery. Abbess Dorothea sought to defend the monastery’s interests in court, but a serious illness, which she had patiently endured for many years, cut short her efforts. The Church expresses its hope that the Lord will grant eternal rest to the newly departed in His heavenly abodes.

As a reminder, we previously reported that at the “Hetman Capital” National Historical and Cultural Reserve an incident occurred involving the eviction of the sisters of the Baturyn Krupitsky St. Nicholas Convent of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Chernihiv Oblast). According to representatives of the convent, these actions were carried out without a court order and with the involvement of law enforcement agencies, despite the existence of a valid lease agreement for the premises and the nuns’ official registration at that address.