Kharkov, October 16, 2026
Photo: kharkovgo.com
Holy Protection Monastery in Kharkov marked its 300th anniversary on the feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos, October 14, this year, with a festive Divine Liturgy led by His Eminence Metropolitan Onuphry of Kharkov and Bogodukhov.
Before the service began, Metropolitan Onuphry and the clergy walked in a procession from the bishop’s residence to the church in honor of the Ozeryanka Icon of the Mother of God, where the Liturgy was served. The monastery’s abbot, its monks and clergy of the Kharkov Diocese concelebrated with him, the diocese reports.
During the service, the faithful offered special prayers for peace in Ukraine. They also prayed for all who’ve lost their homes and for those working to support the Ukrainian people.
After the Liturgy, Metropolitan Onuphry congratulated the abbot, the brethren, the clergy and everyone present on the feast of the Protection and on the monastery’s milestone anniversary. He addressed the faithful with a pastoral word and invoked God’s blessing on all.
Photo: eparchia.kharkov.ua
After Communion, the Metropolitan, together with the clergy and faithful, sang a festive glorification and offered the prayer to the Mother of God “O My Most Gracious Queen.”
That same day, Metropolitan Onuphry opened an exhibition marking the monastery’s 300th anniversary. It presents the main milestones of the monastery’s history, showing its formation, development and spiritual legacy.
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Bishop Epiphany of Belgorod founded the monastery in 1726, when the diocesan school, the Kharkov Collegium, was moved to the city. It got its name after a 1729 synodal decree attached the parish Church of the Protection of the Mother of God to it. That church is now the oldest building in Kharkov. The monastery’s abbot also served as rector of the Collegium.
The monastery’s main holy item is the Ozeryanka Icon of the Mother of God, which was brought there in 1787. Its estates were confiscated by the state during the secularization of church lands in 1786–1788.
After the Kharkov Diocese was established in 1799, the monastery housed the diocesan consistory, and its upper church served as the diocesan cathedral until 1846. The Ozeryanka church was consecrated in 1896 to hold the growing numbers of pilgrims.
Photo: eparchia.kharkov.ua
Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky led the diocese from 1914, and the future St. John of Shanghai often prayed at the tomb of St. Melety of Kharkov in the monastery.
The Bolshevik authorities closed the monastery on September 30, 1922, and the monks were expelled. The buildings were used by a museum, a city archive, warehouses and a military commissariat. The Ozeryanka icon disappeared in the 1930s, and there are conflicting accounts of what happened to it. In 1945, the Protection Cathedral was taken from the Church for good.
Under Metropolitan Nikodim (Rusnak), the authorities decided on January 15, 1990, to return the monastery’s buildings. The first service in the Protection Cathedral was held on April 8, 1990. On October 14 of that year, the patronal feast was celebrated for the first time in 68 years. Archimandrite Vitaly (Zhukov) was appointed the first abbot of the reopened monastery.
The Kharkov Council of Bishops met on the monastery’s grounds on May 27–28, 1992, and elected His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir Sabodan of Kiev and All Ukraine as primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Restoration of the Protection Cathedral and the Ozeryanka Church was completed by the early 2000s. In 2004, a copy of the Queen of All Icon painted on Mount Athos was given to the monastery.
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