Vassa Larin Announces Her Transition to the OCU and Break with ROCOR

Former ROCOR nun Vassa Larin has announced her transition to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) following an official break with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). In a public statement, she confirmed that she remains a nun in the rassophore rank and continues her ministry under the jurisdiction of the OCU. She made the announcement on her Facebook page.

“I continue my ministry within the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, remaining in the rassophore rank of a nun,” she stated in response to ROCOR’s decision to deprive her of monastic status.

Larin accused ROCOR leadership of allegedly trying to silence her for criticizing the ideology of Patriarch Kirill, which she considers anti-Christian: “I never took a vow to defend or cover up such lies. My obedience is to God, not to a regime.”

She also commented on the style of the document concerning her removal: “The decree on my ‘defrocking’ was written in pre-revolutionary ecclesiastical language — obviously to demonstrate loyalty to the Kremlin.”

Despite ROCOR’s decision, Larin emphasized the unshakable nature of her monastic vocation: “I am a nun. In a habit or not. That will not be changed by clothing or by decree.”

It should be noted that the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) decided to return the well-known theologian Vassa Larin to lay status, officially depriving her of the monastic rank and prohibiting her from wearing monastic garments or using her monastic name. The decision was made in connection with her visit to Kyiv and public interaction with representatives of the OCU.