Authorities allow Dumenko into Lavra's Near Caves
Dumenko in the Lavra's Near Caves. Photo: OCU
On September 12, 2025, the Lavra Reserve administration allowed Epifaniy Dumenko and his colleagues into the Near Caves of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, where he performed a "moleben", reports the OCU website.
Afterwards, Dumenko reminded that he had already conducted a similar religious event in the Far Caves, "where the necessary work for the preservation of this great Ukrainian shrine was successfully carried out".
Encouraged by the success, he now decided to perform a "moleben for the beginning of a good deed in the Near Caves, so that such work here would also be crowned with success". What this work entails, Epifaniy did not specify.
The event was attended by the acting head of the Lavra Reserve S. Kotliarevska.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that Dumenko performed the first "liturgy" in the Lavra's Far Caves.
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