EASTERN AMERICAN DIOCESE: 2 November 2026
A treasured gift from Pochaev Lavra arrives at the North Port monastery

On Sunday, November 1, 2026, a specialt event took place at the Monastery of the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God in Florida — the arrival of a reliquary with the relics of St Job and St Amphilochius of Pochaev.

Shortly before this, representatives of the Pochaev Dormition Lavra contacted the abbot of the North Port monastery, Hegumen Stefan (Khilchuk). Learning about the life and service of the monastery community outside of Ukraine, the Lavra decided to gift this relic to the church of the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God.

The reliquary is a large wooden, decorated chest, on which a beautiful painted icon of St Job and S Amphilochius of Pochaev is placed. The icon contains small reliquaries with particles of the relics of these holy servants of God.

It should be noted that this is not the first gift from the Pochaev Lavra to the monastery in North Port. Five years ago, Metropolitan Vladimir (Moroz), the abbot of the Pochaev Dormition Lavra, had already presented the American monastery with panels depicting the feet of the Mother of God, which once covered the site of the appearance of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Dormition Cathedral of Pochaev.

Thus, it is not the first time that the small Pochaev community in America has received spiritual and prayerful support from the great holy Pochaev Dormition Lavra.

All of this once again testifies that the Most Holy Theotokos, the "Abbess" of the monastery, both of the Pochaev Lavra and the community in North Port, does not abandon Her flock and cares for Her people.

Today, many parishioners of the monastery, including refugees from Ukraine, some of whom are originally from Pochaev itself, especially feel the prayerful support and maternal protection of the Mother of God while being far from their homeland.

A special spiritual comfort for the monastery's parishioners will also be the presence among us of the holy relics of Venerable Job and Amphilochius of Pochaev. After all, these great ascetics and confessors of the Orthodox faith also lived in difficult times, experienced trials and sorrows, but remained faithful to God and the Holy Orthodox Church to the very end.

The monastery brethren, in particular Archimandrite Stefan (Khilchuk), sincerely thank Metropolitan Vladimir (Moroz), the abbot of the Pochaev Lavra, and all the brethren of the monastery for their love, support, prayerful help, and fraternal friendship with the inhabitants of the Pochaev Monastery in Florida.

The brothers also give special thanks to the people who worked on bringing this relic to America — God's servants Igor and Stefan.

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