US Ambassador visits Sviatogorsk Lavra

Abbot of Sviatogorsk Lavra Metropolitan Arseny (Yakovenko) and US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch

On 21 October, 2018, US Plenipotentiary Envoy to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch visited the Holy Assumption Lavra in Sviatogorsk, the site of the monastery reports.

The Ambassador visited the Lavra to "get to know about its activities in helping the destitute and displaced persons from the conflict-ridden east of Ukraine." She was accompanied by Jonathan Heilis, a regional coordinator of the US State Department for Refugees Assistance, and David Holmes, a political advisor to the US Embassy.

The Lavra’s Abbot, Metropolitan Arseny (Yakovenko), met the delegation and offered them a short tour around the monastery. He told the guests about the history of the ancient monastery, about the period of its restoration and the return of the Sviatogorsk Icon of the Mother of God. The diplomats visited the Holy Dormition Cathedral and the Pokrov (Protection) Church, saw the paintings of the Church and learned about the shrines of the monastery as well as the saints of God, who used to live and work at the Lavra.

During the excursion, refugee children who are living in the Lavra with their relatives came up for the blessing of Metropolitan Arseny. His Eminence told the Ambassador how the Lavra’s brethren help the victims of the war in Donbass.

The Holy Sviatogorsk Lavra provides accommodation and nourishment to about 250 IDPs. On October 4-5 of this year, believers of Ukraine handed over 100 tons of humanitarian aid to the monastery.

On October 19, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo called on the Ukrainian authorities to continue moving towards the creation of an autocephalous Church.

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