Ovruch, Zhytomyr Province, Ukraine, July 29, 2025
Photo: pravlife.info
His Eminence Metropolitan Vissarion of Ovruch and Korosten of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church has returned to celebrating the Divine services after undergoing a successful heart surgery on the 20th.
The hierarch, who has ongoing heart problems, celebrated the patronal feast of the Chapel of the Equal-to-the-Apostles St. Olga at the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ in Korosten on July 24, reports Orthodox Life.
Yesterday, he celebrated the feast of St. Vladimir and the Baptism of Rus’ at St. Basil’s Church in Ovruch. After the Liturgy, His Eminence led a procession to the local monument to St. Vladimir, where he served a moleben.
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His Eminence was one of the first hierarchs targeted by the state after the start of the war in early 2022, and in fact, he has been a target for decades. In 2019, he spoke about how under the USSR, the authorities accused him of working for the West, but now they accuse him of working for the Kremlin. The hierarch recalled how the KGB threatened to arrest him for distributing morning and evening prayers, and now the authorities harass him for standing firm in his loyalty to the true Church of Christ.
In April 2022, police conducted raids on diocesan buildings, confiscating books and threatening clergy and believers, trying to force them to transfer to the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”
In September 2023, Met. Vissarion was indicted for “inciting religious enmity”—the same phony charge that has been brought against a host of hierarchs and clerics who denounce the schismatics.
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