Zymne Convent in Ukraine’s Volyn region, one of the country’s oldest monasteries and a national architectural landmark, has again become part of the debate over the role of the UOC and its possible ties to Russia. Restored from ruins after 1991, the monastery now covers nearly 16 hectares and includes churches, a hotel, utility buildings, and a helicopter pad.
Over the years, the monastery has been linked to former presidents Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yanukovych, Patriarch Kirill, and members of the banned Opposition Platform For Life. The most notable connection was said to be with Viktor Medvedchuk. Abbess Stephana previously confirmed that he had helped restore the monastery, though she said the convent no longer maintains contact with his family.
“Just as I do not betray God, I never betray people... We have no ties now. But I pray for them every day,” the abbess said in her latest interview.
After spending several days at the monastery, journalists from hromadske, whose report is being republished in translation, said they did not hear openly pro-Russian statements there. Services in the Assumption Cathedral are held in Church Slavonic, and prayers are offered for soldiers, the dead, and those missing in action. The monastery has stauropegic status and reports directly to UOC Metropolitan Onufriy.
Settlement council head Vyacheslav Katolyk said the SBU inspected the monastery in 2022 and found nothing. According to him, there had been no complaints about anti-Ukrainian remarks by the nuns or the abbess. At the same time, he said any question of pro-Russian activity falls within the remit of the security services, not local authorities.
The monastery received land plots for permanent use under local council decisions adopted between 1992 and 2021. In addition, according to a lease agreement obtained by hromadske, religious buildings owned by the state were transferred by the Volyn regional administration in 2020 for free use by the monastery for 50 years, until December 31, 2069. The agreement does not allow unilateral termination.
Member of parliament Ihor Huz, who appealed to the National Security and Defense Council over the monastery, said the state could act through courts and sanctions mechanisms if it sees a threat to national interests. Ukraine’s State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience said it has not yet reached the Zymne Monastery in its review: inspections of UOC structures are proceeding from the top down, and so far only two monastery cases have reached the courts.