Head of OCU once again holds religious events in the Near Caves of the Kyiv Cave Monastery

The head of the OCU, Epiphany Dumenko, once again made his way to the Near Caves of the Holy Dormition Kyiv Cave Monastery, which are closed to the public, where he performed religious events in the Monastery’s Vvedensky Church.

According to the press service of the OCU, the event took place on December 19, 2025. The head of the OCU was «concelebrated» by an employee of the Kyiv-Pechersk National Reserve Abraham Lotysh, the head of the Chernihiv Diocese of the OCU Anthony Firley and other representatives of the OCU.

We recently reported that, at the request of the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine, the Microbiological Laboratory of Sumy State University «ECOMEDCHEM» conducted «tests» with the relics of the Monks of the Caves in the Far Caves of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. This information follows from the response to a lawyer’s request by Archpriest Nikita Chekman. He noted that the departments refused to provide any other information regarding the actions of the institutions in relation to the Lavra shrines.