On August 17, 2021, after the Divine Liturgy on the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the enthronement of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a regular meeting of the Holy Synod was held in the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra under the chairmanship of His Beatitude Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine Onuphry. The information and educational department of the UOC publishes the results of the Holy Synod.
First of all, the Synod adopted a number of personnel decisions due to the fact that His Grace Metropolitan Mitrofan of Lugansk and Alchevsk, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations and a permanent member of the Holy Synod, passed to the Lord on June 18, 2021.
Metropolitan Panteleimon of Rovenkovsk and Sverdlovsk was appointed the new administrator of the Lugansk diocese.
The Roven’kovo diocese was subsequently led by Archbishop Arkady of Ovidiopol, who had previously been vicar of the Odessa diocese.
Metropolitan Meletius of Chernivtsi and Bukovina was appointed chairman of the Department for External Church Relations and a permanent member of the Holy Synod.
The Synod approved the new composition of the Commission for Monasteries, and also included new members in the Commission for the Canonization of Saints.
The Holy Synod blessed the formation of two monasteries: in honor of the Rudosilskaya Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Bila Tserkva diocese and in honor of the Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Mukachevo diocese. Also, the governors for the St. Panteleimon Monastery of the Odessa Diocese and the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery of the Borispol Diocese were approved.
Having considered the reports of the diocesan bishops, the Synod blessed the local glorification in the face of saints of such ascetics of piety:
within the Boryspil Diocese – Hieromartyr Michael, Presbyter of Zazimsky. His Memorial Day was established on November 27;
within the Rivne diocese – Saint Hierotheos, Bishop of Ostrog. Memorial Day April 30;
within the Baltic diocese – the Monk Anthony of Balts. Memorial Day 22 August;
and within the Kirovograd diocese – the holy martyrs Nicholas and Plato of the presbyters with the establishment of the day of their memory on June 15.
The Holy Synod also elected Archimandrite Agathon (Opanasenko), a resident of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, to be bishop of Koktebel, vicar of the Feodosia diocese.
