Head of the OCU “celebrated the first liturgy” in the Far Caves of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra

On August 28, 2025, the head of the OCU, Epiphaniy Dumenko, led the “first Divine Liturgy” in the church dedicated to St. Theodosius of the Caves. This was reported on the OCU’s official website.

According to the OCU press service, the religious event took place “after a series of works aimed at preserving the reliquaries with holy relics and restoring the caves,” which had been carried out recently.

It should be recalled that Svitlana Kotlyarevska, Acting General Director of the National Reserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra,” announced her intention to submit to UNESCO the “fact of veneration of the relics of the saints in the caves” as a unique element of intangible cultural heritage. Commenting on the OCU’s “service” in the Far Caves of the Lavra, Kotlyarevska called it a “historic event,” emphasizing that the liturgy is conducted in the Ukrainian language and in the Ukrainian caves of the Lavra.