The Italian government has made a sizable contribution towards the restoration of the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa, which was severely damaged in July 2023. In October, Italy and Ukraine signed an agreement of cooperation on the project, and according to a new agreement made with UNESCO, Italy’s first allotment amounts to $539,200 (500,000 euros), reports the Information-Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Recall that the cathedral was badly damaged during a Russian missile attack on the seaport infrastructure in the city on the Black Sea in late July. The central altar and cathedral office space were completely destroyed, though a wonderworking copy of the Kasperov Icon of the Mother of God, which is housed in the cathedral, was safely pulled from the rubble.

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine visited the badly damaged cathedral in late September and served a memorial litiya before the surviving copy of the Kasperov Icon. (Quelle: www.orthochristian.com, 12. Februar 2024)