Zimno, Volyn Province, Ukraine, September 25, 2026
Photo: uoc-news.church
His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine led the Divine Liturgy at the Zimno Dormition Convent on the feast of the Svyatogorsk-Zimno Icon of the Mother of God yesterday, marking the convent’s 1,025th anniversary and the 35th anniversary of the revival of monastic life there.
The festivities began the previous evening with an All-Night Vigil and an akathist to the Mother of God before the wonderworking Zimno icon, led by Metropolitan Onuphry and other bishops, in the monastery’s Dormition Cathedral. The first Liturgy of the celebration was served that night, reports the UOC’s Information-Education Department.
At the morning Liturgy on the feast day itself, Metropolitan Onuphry concelebrated with 10 UOC hierarchs, along with the convent’s own clergy and visiting clergy from UOC dioceses.
Photo: uoc-news.church
Abbess Stefana of the Zimno Convent joined in prayer during the service, along with abbesses from other UOC convents, the sisters of the community, and a large number of the faithful. The choir of the Kiev Theological Academy and Seminary sang the liturgical hymns.
During the Little Entrance, Metropolitan Onuphry presented Abbess Stefana with the Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, in honor of her 35th anniversary as the convent’s superior.
Prayers were offered during the service for peace on Ukrainian soil and that the Lord would look with mercy on the Ukrainian people and show mercy to those suffering various afflictions because of the war.
The wonderworking Zimno Icon of the Mother of God. Photo: uoc-news.church
Following the Divine Liturgy, a procession with the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God made its way around the convent grounds, and the faithful were sprinkled with holy water.
Metropolitan Onuphry congratulated everyone on the feast and gave his blessing to those gathered. Abbess Stefana thanked the primate and the bishops for their visit and for praying together in the convent.
A brief history of the monastery
Photo: zymne.net
The monastery was founded in 1001 by Prince Vladimir the Great as a men’s monastery of the Dormition, on a defensible cape above the Luga River. Known as “Holy Mountain,” it’s first mentioned in the Primary Chronicle in the late 11th century. Tradition says Varlaam, first abbot of the Kiev Caves Monastery, died here en route from Constantinople to Kiev.
It first appears in documentary sources in 1458, and by the late 1400s the village of Zimno belonged to the Orthodox nobleman Fyodor Chartorisky, who built the monastery its Dormition church, fortress walls and towers. His son Alexander later brought it hardship through property disputes but reconciled with the monks before his death, casting them a bell in 1566 that survives today. The monastery came under Uniate control in 1682 and eventually ceased to exist; its churches were returned to Orthodox use as parishes in 1795.
Nuns from the Koretsk Convent arrived in 1892 to restore monastic life, and the Synod formally reestablished it as a women’s convent the following year, reaching 16 nuns and 103 novices by 1914. At the outbreak of World War I, Abbess Ariadna and 40 sisters evacuated to Zhytomir with the Zimno icon, while the rest stayed behind, saying they were ready to die in their own convent. The monastery was closed in 1946.
The first nuns returned from Koretsk in June 1991, and within a year the revived community had 2 nuns, 6 riassophore nuns, 7 novices and two hieromonks. Mother Stefana was raised to abbess in March 1992. Relics of Archdeacon Stephen and St. Arseny of the Kiev Caves arrived in 1993, followed by the Pochaev icon in 1994.
In 1995, during the 500th anniversary of the Dormition church, the convent’s own Zimno icon was returned to the community amid reports of signs and a healing among the faithful. The Synod granted the convent stavropegic status in 1996. His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and All Ukraine oversaw the convent until his repose in 2014, when Metropolitan Onuphry took over direct archpastoral care—a role he continues today, visiting often to lead services himself.
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