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."
Knife or 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 death certificate issued by the Sloviansk branch of the Donetsk Regional Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination, death resulted from a through-and-through gunshot wound to the head and neck with damage to the skull. The expert identified the circumstance of death as an attack with intent to kill and inflict bodily harm, carried out using a hand-held firearm.
That is, the monk was shot at point-blank or near point-blank range, while the other two were stabbed with knives and left to die.
What the Survivor Said
The details of what occurred on the upper platform are known from Andriy Kyriyenko's own account. These are the testimony of one person, not yet confirmed by the investigation, but we have no other accounts.
According to his account, he was sitting alone on a bench near the church (apparently the Church of St. Nicholas at the highest point of the monastery). Three military men approached him. Andriy specifically emphasizes: these were not the servicemen he was accustomed to seeing up there. These three were in full combat gear and, in his assessment, looked like fighters from some special 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. Nearby lay wooden beams from which the handrail on the descent had been made. One of the attackers picked up such a beam and began to strike him. Andriy grabbed it with his hands, 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 from the attack to the moment he was found. Throughout this time he alternately lost and regained consciousness. Already lying in the ravine, he heard gunshots.
Andriy only learned in the hospital that two others had been harmed: until then he had believed the attack had been directed at him alone. He also recalls that near the upper church there was a guardhouse with a watchman, and he does not know what happened to that person.
What the Investigation Is Doing
On August 23, the investigative department of Police Station No. 2 of the Kramatorsk District Police Directorate of the National Police in Donetsk Oblast 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 premeditated murder — as well as under Part 1 of Article 115, premeditated murder. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing; the police have not disclosed further details.
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 Svyatogorsk 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 body of the murdered monk 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 shelling of the lavra in 2022.
Who Was Monk Varsonofiy
Monk Varsonofiy, known in the world as Vasyl Vyacheslavovych Turyansky, 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 institute "Norilskproekt," was involved in commerce, and worked in the planning department of the Dokuchayevsk Flux-Dolomite Plant. An ordinary biography of a man who at some point decided that instead of earthly interests, he needed the interests of eternity.
In the summer of 2013, Vasyl Turyansky was enrolled among the brotherhood of the Svyatogorsk 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. In the monastery he fulfilled the obediences of trapezar, floriculturist, and greenhouse keeper.
On the day of his death, Father Varsonofiy received Holy Communion. A priest of the Izium and Kupyansk Diocese who knew him, Father Yevheniy Hreytzar, recounts that during that very service three doves flew into the church, and the monk said: "The Lord does not forsake us." After the service, he climbed the staircase to the upper area — 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 clergy of patriotic confessions who called the clergy and faithful of the UOC "enemies of the people."
What happened in Svyatogorsk is the natural result of all this hatred. And if the authorities, as they claim, consider Ukraine a law-governed democratic state, then the capture and punishment of the perpetrator must become a matter of honor for it.
But so far we see no signs of this. The President "did not notice" the murder of the monk, even though he had included the Svyatogorsk Lavra among the principal Ukrainian shrines under special state protection. The State Service for Ethnopolitics also "did not notice" it. The police are silent, the prosecutor's office is silent, and the media are silent as well. The impression is 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 Grigory and Andriy Kyriyenko.
Memory eternal.
