Met. Arseny, abbot of the Holy Dormition-Svyatogorsk Lavra, has been held in detention since April 25, 2024, without a conviction.
The cathedral was seized on October 17, 2024, in one of the bloodiest church takeovers since the creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in 2018.
The 2025 pilgrimage took place between October 19 and 29 at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest. During the first days, from October 19 to 22, the reliquary containing the relics of St. Demetrius the New was placed in the cathedral’s narthex, and the faithful were able to venerate them daily from morning until nearly midnight.
The Greek hierarch, who has taken a strong stand in defense of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, is leading a delegation that includes clergy from the Church of Greece on the multi-day visit.
Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral (Orthodox Church in America), the oldest Orthodox church in Montreal, celebrated its centennial over the weekend of October 25-26.