What is known about the murder at the Sviatohirsk Lavra
A monk was killed and two others were wounded at the Sviatohirsk Lavra. What is known about the tragedy?
On August 23, 2026, at around 11 a.m., a group of unidentified assailants attacked monastics in the upper part of the Holy Dormition Sviatohirsk Lavra, near St. Nicholas Church. Monk Varsonofiy (Turiansky) was killed, while monk Hryhoriy and refugee Andriy Kyriienko, who was staying at the monastery, sustained serious injuries.
The incident was first reported late that same evening by the UOJ website, then by the official website of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and subsequently by the monastery's press service. Over four days, much has been added to this report: the testimony of a survivor, the forensic medical expert's conclusion, and the criminal case number. Only one thing has not been added – a clear response from the state.
The first fifteen minutes
The attack at the Lavra became known at around 11:15 a.m. The injured monk Hryhoriy managed to make his way down from St. Nicholas Church to the monastic quarters and report what had happened. The monastics immediately called the police.
The victims were taken to hospital in Sloviansk. Novice monk Hryhoriy was found to have approximately four stab wounds, including a penetrating lung wound. Andriy Kyriienko was in even more serious condition: he had also suffered a punctured lung, and both men had lost a great deal of blood. They were later transferred to Kharkiv, where they remain under medical supervision.
The body of monk Varsonofiy was found by the brotherhood on the landing of the Cyril and Methodius staircase, in a pool of blood. According to eyewitnesses, his last words were: "Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ!.. I am a monk."
A knife or a bullet
Initial reports, including our own, stated that the monk had been killed with a knife and that his face had been mutilated. The forensic medical examination clarified the picture.
According to the medical certificate of death issued by the Sloviansk branch of the Donetsk Regional Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination, the cause of death was a gunshot wound passing through the head and neck, with damage to the skull. The forensic expert classified the circumstances of death as an attack intended to kill and inflict bodily harm, carried out using a handheld firearm.
In other words, the monk was shot at point-blank or near-point-blank range, while the other two men were stabbed with knives and left to die.
What the survivor said
Details of what happened at the upper site are known from Andriy Kyriienko's account. This is the testimony of one person, and it has not yet been corroborated by investigators, but it is the only account we have so far.
He said he was sitting alone on a bench near the church (presumably the St. Nicholas Church at the highest point of the monastery) when three servicemen approached him. Andriy specifically emphasizes that they were not the military personnel he was accustomed to seeing up there. The three men were in full combat gear and, in his view, appeared to be members of some kind of special forces unit.
They said to him: "Glory to Ukraine." He said nothing. The soldiers repeated the greeting. Andriy then responded as any Christian would: "Glory to our Lord God. Save and preserve." That is, he glorified God first and foremost.
After this, they began to beat him. After that, they began beating him. Wooden beams used to make the handrails along the descent were lying nearby. One of the attackers picked up one of the beams and began beating him with it. Andriy grabbed the beam, trying to stop the blows. The attacker then drew a knife and began cutting his hands to make him release the beam.
Andriy let go and, bent over, held onto the railing. He was ordered to stand up. He thought he was about to be shot. Instead, he was struck several times with a knife. He fell. The military men discussed among themselves for a time what to do with him, and then threw him into a ravine – apparently expecting him to bleed to death.
About forty minutes passed between the attack and the time he was found. During that time, he repeatedly lost consciousness and came to. While lying in the ravine, he heard gunshots.
Andriy learned that two others had also been injured only at the hospital; until then, he thought he had been the only one attacked. He also recalls that there was a guardhouse with a security guard near the upper church, and he does not know what happened to him.
Investigation actions
On August 23, the Investigative Department of Police Station No. 2 of the Kramatorsk District Police Directorate of the National Police in Donetsk Region entered information into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations under Part 2 of Article 15 and Paragraph 1 of Part 2 of Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – completed attempted intentional murder – as well as under Part 1 of Article 115, intentional murder. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing; the police have not disclosed further details yet.
There is, however, one detail that speaks louder than all official comments combined. Procedural oversight in this case is being exercised by the Specialized Prosecutor's Office in the Field of Defense of the Eastern Region. This is the body whose jurisdiction covers criminal offenses committed by military personnel, reservists, and those subject to military service. In plain terms: military prosecutors.
It is clear that this is not yet a verdict or an indictment. But the choice of the body handling the case indicates who exactly the investigation is considering as possible perpetrators.
It should be added that the Sviatohirsk Lavra is located in a frontline zone where a strict military regime is in effect. Armed individuals ascended to the upper area, killed one person, wounded two others and calmly left. How all of this could have happened is a question that will need to be answered. And the answer may prove uncomfortable.
The funeral
On August 23, after the completion of investigative procedures, the victim’s body was taken from the Lavra and delivered to the morgue for forensic medical examination. That same day, following the All-Night Vigil in the Dormition Cathedral, the brotherhood served a panikhida for the newly departed.
On August 25, the body was brought from the morgue and the coffin was placed in the center of the Dormition Cathedral. The brotherhood performed the funeral service together. Before the burial, Archimandrite Feofan delivered a eulogy for the newly departed.
After the rite of the last kiss, monk Varsonofiy was buried behind the altar of the Dormition Cathedral – beside the graves of Archimandrite Galaktion (Vuychenko) and monk Aristokly (Khashchyna), who perished during the Lavra shelling in 2022.
Who was Monk Varsonofiy
Monk Varsonofiy, known in the world as Vasyl Vyacheslavovych Turiansky, was born on July 22, 1973. He held two higher education degrees: in 1996 he graduated from Donetsk State Technical University with a specialization in "Mineral Processing," and in 2005 from the International University of Finance with a specialization in "Finance."
He worked as a design engineer at the "Norilskproekt" Institute, was involved in commerce, and worked in the planning department of the Dokuchayevsk Flux-Dolomite Plant. A typical biography of a person who at some point decided that, from then on, the interests of eternity mattered more to him than earthly concerns.
In the summer of 2013, Vasyl Turiansky was enrolled among the brotherhood of the Sviatohirsk Lavra. On January 1, 2015, the abbot of the monastery, Archbishop Arseniy, tonsured him as a novice monk with the name Evseviy in honor of the hieromartyr Evseviy of Samosata. On April 23, 2019, Great Tuesday of Holy Week, Metropolitan Arseniy tonsured him into the monastic schema with the name Varsonofiy, in honor of Saint Varsonofiy. At the monastery, he served as the refectorian, gardener, and greenhouse keeper.
On the day of his death, Father Varsonofiy received Holy Communion. Father Yevhen Hreitsar, a priest of the Izium and Kupiansk Eparchy who knew him, recalls that during that very service, three doves flew into the church, and the monk said, "The Lord does not abandon us." After the service, he went upstairs to call his mother.
What comes next
The killer of the monk remains unknown. But whoever he turns out to be, he did not act alone. He was prepared over many years. Prepared by journalists who broadcast about "FSB agents in churches," prepared by deputies who shouted at priests "suitcase-train station-Russia," prepared by clerics of patriotic denominations who called the clergy and faithful of the UOC "enemies of the people."
What happened in Sviatohirsk is a predictable result of all this hatred. And if the authorities, as they claim, consider Ukraine a law-based democratic state, then apprehending and punishing the perpetrator should be a matter of honor for the state.
But so far, we see no signs of this. The President has “turned a blind eye” to the monk’s murder, even though he included the Sviatohirsk Lavra among Ukraine’s major holy sites that are under special state protection. The State Service for Ethnopolitics "did not notice" it as well. The police are silent, the prosecutors are silent, and the media are silent. It gives the impression that an order has come from above to ignore this tragedy.
And the brotherhood of the monastery asks for prayers for the repose of the newly departed monk Varsonofiy and for the health and speedy recovery of novice monk Hryhoriy and Andriy Kyriienko.
Memory eternal.
