Festive Services Held at Pochaiv Lavra in Honor of the Pochaiv Icon of the Mother of God

On August 5, 2025, festive services were held at the Holy Dormition Pochaiv Lavra on the occasion of the commemoration of the Pochaiv Icon of the Mother of God and the 350th anniversary of the miraculous deliverance of the monastery from a Turkish-Tatar invasion in 1675. This was reported by the Information and Educational Department of the UOC.

The celebrations began the day before — on August 4. According to established tradition, the wonderworking icon was transferred from the Dormition Cathedral to the Transfiguration Cathedral, where the main festive services took place. Thousands of pilgrims came to venerate the holy image, many of them arriving on foot as part of processions.

On the evening before the feast, an all-night vigil with an akathist before the Pochaiv Icon was held in the Transfiguration Cathedral. Prayer services continued late into the night, as the faithful continuously venerated the icon.

The festive liturgies were led by Metropolitan Sergiy of Ternopil and Kremenets, concelebrated by bishops, the brotherhood of the Lavra, and numerous clergy.

On the feast day itself, two Divine Liturgies were celebrated — in the Dormition and Transfiguration Cathedrals. Prayers were offered for peace in Ukraine, for the soldiers, and for all those suffering because of the war.

After the second Liturgy, the wonderworking icon was solemnly carried back to the Dormition Cathedral in a procession, where a special prayer service was performed.

At the conclusion of the festivities, the abbot of the Lavra, Metropolitan Volodymyr of Pochaiv, addressed the gathered clergy and faithful with words of gratitude and congratulation on the day of the Pochaiv Icon’s commemoration.

It should be noted that on July 31, 2025, in the village of Demydivka in Rivne Region, supporters of the OCU blocked the path of participants in the UOC’s cross procession, which was heading from Volyn to the Pochaiv Lavra for the feast. In previous years, participants traditionally stayed overnight at the Church of St. John the Theologian (UOC) in Demydivka, but this time local OCU supporters forced them out of the village.