UOC Primate officiates the burial rite of the Shroud at Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra
The Holy Shroud – a large rectangular cloth with the image of the Savior's body – is carried out at the end of the Great Friday evening service.
On the evening before Great Saturday, April 18, 2025, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine led the Matins with the rite of the burial of the Shroud at the St Agapit Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, reports the UOC Information and Education Department.
The Primate of the Church was concelebrated by the UOC Chancellor, Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Brovary, Bishop Lavr of Irpin, Bishop Mark of Borodianka, and the clergy of the monastery.
«In the liturgical texts of the Matins of Great Saturday (which can be celebrated on Great Friday evening), the burial of the Lord's body by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus is mentioned. Furthermore, the Church remembers the Savior's descent into hell to proclaim His victory over death there, the introduction of the thief into Paradise, and the resurrection of many righteous ones who began to preach Christ in Jerusalem. The Christian world looks at the Shroud depicting the deceased Body of the Lord in anticipation of His glorious Resurrection and asks: "Arise, O God!"» explained the UOC Information Department.
After the great doxology, His Beatitude and the hierarchs carried the Shroud through the church under the burial hymn «Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.»
Metropolitan Onufriy, the clergy, and all the faithful reverently bowed to the Lord before His Holy Shroud.
As reported by tehe UOJ, His Beatitude led Vespers with the procession of the Shroud at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
