Social welfare is one of the most significant aspects of  Church life. The Church’s  mission of salvation  is fulfilled not only through the celebration of the Sacraments,  prayer and sermons but also by  directly serving others through Christ’s infinite love and mercy . As our Saviour Jesus Christ stated , – “I am among you as the one who serves”(Luke 22:27), and  as the holy apostle Peter also called: “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others” (1 Peter 4:10). Therefore, serving  neighbours and performing good works in the name of Christ is the foundation of social behavior of the Christian individual as well as the Christian community as a whole. This reveals the necessity and prospects of social welfare by The Church .

In the chronicles , the first references to the provision of special services at the Kiev-Caves Lavra by the venerable Theodosiy of the Caves in order to render aid to the physically challenged and disadvantaged dates back to the XIth century: “…he created a yard at his monastery and founded the church of the Holy First Martyr Stefan” . It is also known that in the XVIth century, Archimandrite Elisey Pletenetskiy of the Kiev-Caves monastery busied himself with the development of a hospital and a kitchen for the poor. We should remember that in those  bygone times ,  there were no specific social programs providing  aid for seniors, orphans and invalids, thus the Church was the sole institution able to take care of them.

At present,  many fine old traditions  such as providing social welfare to the needy, especially those who require special assistance and care are being resurrected at the Kiev-Caves Lavra. A  free of charge , fully-functioning refectory for the underprivileged is now in operation. The brethren of the Kiev-Caves Lavra , to the best of their ability and capacity  , assist all people  who come in to the holy monastery for aid with pains and needs.

The Department  for Social Welfare, founded at the Kiev-Caves Lavra, renders assistance to people with disabilities , to children’s homes and to the poor. Pastoral care for  prisoners is provided for, they receive medicine, ecclesiastical literature, stationery and clothes. Excursions to the Kiev-Caves Lavra are arranged for the pupils of  boarding schools and children’s homes. Annually,during Christmas and Easter holidays, the Prior of the Lavra, His Eminence Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl visits children’s institutions, presents gifts to the children and engages in spiritual talks with them.

News feed of the Social Department

Contact and payment details of the Social Department of the Holy Dormition Kiev-Caves (Kiev-Pechersk) Lavra

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4731 2196 1340 9956

Email : 2551119@lavra.ua