The number of monks in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is steadily growing

Despite pressure and the risk of prohibition, the number of monks in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is actively growing. This time, a female believer in Kirovohrad joined the monastic community of the Church. This was reported by the Kirovohrad Diocese of the UOC.

It is reported that on September 3, 2025, at the Elizabethan Monastery in Kropyvnytskyi, the monastic tonsure of God’s servant Lydia took place. Lydia received the name Fevronia, in honor of the holy princess Fevronia. The monastic tonsure was performed by the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Manuel (Zadnepryany).

Earlier, OCU hierarch Gabriel Kryzina 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 Kryzina himself had changed two jurisdictions during his short career.