Pochaev, Ukraine, July 12, 2018
news.church.ua The confessor for the brethren of the Holy Dormition-Pochaev Lavra Schema-Archimandrite George (Stets) reposed in the Lord yesterday at the age of 82, reports the site of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Fr. George (Galaktion Dimitrievich Stets) was born on November 18, 1935 in the village of Kopashnevo in the Transcarpathian Province. He was received into the Pochaev Lavra as a novice on February 20, 1959, and he remained there in ascetic labor for the remaining 60 years of his life.
He was tonsured as a monk in 1960 at the young age of 25, and within two years he was ordained as a hierodeacon, and later as a hieromonk.
He firmly stood for the Orthodox faith and piety throughout all the difficult years of persecutions against the brethren and the Church as a whole from the godless soviet authorities. He later recalled that whenever he was summoned to the police for questioning, he would take a blessing from St. Amphilochius of Pochaev, who would tell him, “Go, and fear nothing.”
Schema-Archimandrite George received several awards for his decades of dedicated service to the Church, including the right to wear a second jeweled cross, and the Order of St. Sergius, third degree.
For many years he bore the obedience of dean, confessor, and steward of the monastery. He served as the confessor to the brethren of the monastery for 27 years.
He was tonsured into the great schema on May 17 of this year.
He reposed on July 11, having communed of the precious Body and Blood of Christ.
His memory will survive in the hearts not only of the Pochaev monks, but of all who found comfort and support from him. May his memory be eternal!
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