Bakaivka, Ukraine, October 3, 2019
Photo: news.church.ua
Mother Agnia (Minyailo), abbess of the Holy Protection-Krasnogorsk Monastery in the Cherkassy Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, reposed in the Lord on Tuesday, October 1, reports the Information-Education Department of the Ukrainian Church.
Mother Agnia was 90 years old. She labored in asceticism at the monastery for 50 years, serving as abbess since 1997.
Her funeral was served at the monastery today by His Eminence Metropolitan Clement of Nizhyn and Priluki and His Eminence Archbishop Alexander of Gorodnitsky, reports the Nizhyn Diocese press service.
May her memory be eternal!
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Photo: news.church.ua Mother Agnia (Anastasia in Baptism) was born on September 5, 1930 in the village of Grun in the Sumy Province.
Having survived the war years, she went to St. Lawrence of Chernigov for a blessing to become a nun. He sent her to Bishop Boris of Chernigov who sent her to the Convent of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in Domnitsa, where she bore obediences until the closure of the monastery in 1951.
After their eviction, the nuns entered the Holy Trinity Monastery in Chernigov, but the authorities closed it as well after 10 years, forcing Mother Agnia, a novice at the time, to look for secular work. She ended up working 8 years on a farm.
In 1969, she entered the Holy Protection Convent as a novice. She was tonsured in honor of the holy Martyr Agnes of Rome on March 19, 1976. She bore various obediences until the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Church appointed her as abbess on April 15, 1997 and elevated her to the rank of Igumena.
Mother Agnia made great efforts to improve the monastery during her time as abbess. The interior of the Holy Protection Monastery was restored, new domes and a bell tower were installed, and a number of new work and residential buildings were erected under her watch.
In 2001, the restoration of the St. John the Theologian Skete began, with a majestic cathedral and new bell tower being built later.
