ROCOR Strips Sr. Vassa Larin of Monastic Status over Ties to OCU

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) has decided to return the well-known theologian Sr. Vassa Larin to lay status, officially stripping her of her monastic rank and forbidding her to wear monastic attire or use her monastic name. This decision was made due to her visit to Kyiv and public contacts with representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). The source Orthodox Christianity reported this information.

Former Sister Vassa, host of the online program Coffee with Sr. Vassa and a professor of liturgical studies at the Catholic Faculty of the University of Vienna, during her trip to Kyiv, gave lectures to students of the Kyiv Theological Academy of the OCU, attended services at one of the parishes of this structure, and met with clergy who left the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Additionally, she gave an interview to a Ukrainian government official known for active involvement in campaigns against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The OCU openly welcomed Vassa’s actions, calling her “a friend of our autocephaly” and announcing that she may join the faculty of their academy as early as next year.

According to the official Synod statement, correspondence between Bishop Luke of Syracuse and Varvara Georgievna Larin (Vassa’s secular name before tonsure) was reviewed, in which she was officially notified of the removal of her monastic garments due to “disobedience.”

The Synod confirmed this decision, forbidding Larin from wearing the monastic habit and veil, using her monastic name, and representing herself as a ROCOR nun in any public statements.

It is worth noting that starting next academic year, Vassa Larin — now a former nun of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, a liturgist, Byzantinist, PhD holder, and professor at the University of Vienna — will begin teaching in the Department of Church Practical Disciplines at the Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy.