UOC's Kharkiv Eparchy honors St. Athanasius of Constantinople

Festive Divine Liturgy at the UOC's Annunciation Cathedral in Kharkiv. Photo: Kharkiv diocesan press service

On May 15, 2025, the feast day of Saint Athanasius, Patriarch of Constantinople, Lubny, and Kharkiv, a festive Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the Annunciation Cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Kharkiv, according to the diocesan press service.

The service was officiated by Metropolitan Onuphry of Kharkiv and Bohodukhiv, concelebrated by Archbishop Oleksandr of Horodnytsia and clergy of the Kharkiv Eparchy.

At the conclusion of the service, Metropolitan Onuphry led a festive glorification rite before the relics of St. Athanasius.

The Kharkiv archpastor congratulated the clergy and faithful on the feast and gave his blessing to all present.

Athanasius III (secular name Alexios), a Greek by origin, was born on the island of Crete into a noble and pious family. Every year on May 15, a solemn liturgy is celebrated in Kharkiv’s Annunciation Cathedral in honor of the veneration of the relics of Saint Athanasius the Reclining, the Wonderworker of Lubny.

There are many stories explaining how a Patriarch of Constantinople came to repose in a provincial town of the Poltava Governorate, but few know the full truth.

As previously reported by the UOJ, a UOC hierarch earlier expressed condolences over the ongoing shelling of Kharkiv.

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