Metropolitan Vissarion of Ovruch and Korosten reposed in the Lord at 72

Metropolitan Vissarion of Ovruch and Korosten died on September 18, 2026, at the age of 72 following a serious and prolonged illness, according to the Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Metropolitan Vissarion, born Vasily Alexandrovich Stretovich on December 4, 1953, in the village of Polyana in Ukraine’s Zhytomyr region, studied at the Moscow Theological Seminary before continuing his studies at the Moscow Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1983.

He was tonsured a monk at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra on April 1, 1983, and was ordained a hierodeacon in September of the same year, followed by his ordination as a hieromonk.

From 1983 to 1986, he served at the Transfiguration Cathedral in Zhytomyr. He later served at St. Basil’s Cathedral in Ovruch, where he also carried out the duties of district dean.

He was elevated to the rank of hegumen in 1990 and to archimandrite in August 1992.

On August 24, 1992, he was consecrated Bishop of Korosten and appointed Vicar of the Diocese of Zhytomyr. Following the establishment of the separate Diocese of Ovruch and Korosten in June 1993, he was appointed its ruling hierarch.

Metropolitan…