His Beatitude celebrates Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts in Feofania
The Primate of the UOC led the Great Lenten service and blessed the koliva in the capital's monastery.
His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry headed the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts on February 27, 2026, at St. Panteleimon's Monastery of Feofania in Kyiv, reports the press service of the UOC.
The Divine service took place at the Church of St. Bonifatius of Theophania. The Primate was concelebrated by Metropolitan Philaret of Lviv and Galicia, Archbishop Seraphim of Yagotin, Archbishop Lavr of Irpin, Archbishop Mark of Borodianka, and the clergy of the monastery.
Together with the archpastor prayed the abbess of the monastery, Hegumeness Elisabeth (Andreeva) with the sisters and numerous parishioners.
After the end of the Liturgy, a moleben with a canon to the Great Martyr Theodore Tiron took place, after which His Beatitude blessed the koliva — boiled wheat grains prepared in memory of the miracle of Saint Theodore, who warned Christians against consuming defiled food during the time of Emperor Julian the Apostate.
The tradition of blessing koliva in the first week of Great Lent dates back to the 4th century and is preserved in the Orthodox Church as a memory of the miracle of Saint Theodore Tiron.
After the moleben, Metropolitan Onuphrius addressed the faithful with a word of instruction.
As the UOJ reported, the Primate of the UOC performed the reading of the Great Penitential Canon in Feofania.
