“Church canons and Ukrainian laws were observed,” – Kotliarevska on the UGCC “liturgy” in the Distant Caves

Acting director of the Kyiv-Pechersk Reserve, Svitlana Kotliarevska, commented on the “first liturgy” of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) led by Epifaniy Dumenko in the Distant Caves of the Lavra. She called the event a “major spiritual undertaking of national importance, in which everything had to be taken into account – both church canons and Ukrainian laws.” She posted this on her Facebook page.

Kotliarevska noted that the day coincided with “the completion of a series of measures to ensure the preservation of the relics of the venerable saints”: “These measures were carried out jointly with the monastery brethren led by Bishop Avraamiy.”

“The reserve worked with the reliquaries (tombs) and fabrics. We have specialists who joined the Lavra as young students back in the 1980s and have unique experience. And the clergy (OCU – ed.) in constant prayer, taking all canons into account, performed the full range of necessary actions with the holy relics,” Kotliarevska wrote.

It should be recalled that on August 28, 2025, the head of the OCU, Epifaniy Dumenko, led the “first Divine Liturgy” in the church in honor of Venerable Theodosius of the Caves.