The mother of the OCU hierarch took the highest monastic rank in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Hierarch Gabriel Kryzyna of the OCU announced that his mother had taken the great schema (the highest monastic degree) in one of the women’s monasteries of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The woman made this decision despite the fact that Kryzyna himself had changed two jurisdictions during his short career. He shared this news on his Facebook account.

“I would like to inform you that, yes, my beloved mother, after the repose of her iconographer father, immediately took the lesser schema with the name Anastasia, and on August 24, 2025, she took the greater schema with the name Nina (in honor of St. Nina of Georgia) in the UOC-MP,” – said the head of the Rivne-Volyn Diocese of the OCU.

Kryzina added that he sees nothing wrong with his mother taking monastic vows in the UOC rather than the OCU. He believes that if someone feels more comfortable in the UOC, no one can restrict that person in this matter.

“Dear friends, I communicate with representatives of the UOC-MP every day (I even meet with them) – this is how it should be according to the Gospel. If a person feels spiritually comfortable in the UOC-MP (or in the UGCC, etc.), that is their choice, which they have the right to make from God the Creator,” – Kryzyna believes.

Earlier, we reported that representatives of the regional branch of the Ukrainian schism published a book about the hierarch of the UOC, former Metropolitan Sofroniy of Cherkasy and Kaniv, who passed away in 2020. In the Cherkasy diocese of the OCU, Metropolitan Sofroniy was called a “great Ukrainian patriot,” despite the fact that until the last day of his life, the hierarch criticized the creation of the OCU, refusing to leave the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and deviate into schism.