With the blessing of Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, the Patriarchal Humanitarian Mission will hold a meeting on September 24, 2026, dedicated to the service of volunteers and sisters of mercy in Donbas. Volunteers who have already traveled to the conflict zone and those residents of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region who are still planning to take part in the trips and want to learn more about the activities of the Patriarchal Humanitarian Mission are invited to the meeting. The meeting is open to both clergy and laity who want to actively be close to the affected people in Donbas.
The participants will discuss areas of assistance to the Patriarchal Humanitarian Mission — hospital service, social patronage, housing rehabilitation, as well as tasks performed by volunteers in various cities of the conflict zone. At the meeting, the volunteers of the Patriarchal Humanitarian Mission will also share their experiences and stories of assistance.
The event will be attended by volunteers of the Patriarchal Humanitarian Mission who take part in humanitarian trips to the conflict zone.
The meeting will take place in the Blue Hall of the Diocesan Administration at the address: St. Petersburg, 1 Monastyrki River Embankment (from the Metropolitan Garden). Admission is free.
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The Patriarchal Humanitarian Mission was established by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church with the aim of coordinating and systematically developing assistance to civilians in the Donetsk People's Republic, Luhansk People's Republic, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, as well as providing assistance to the wounded.
There are 12 Patriarchal Humanitarian Mission assistance centers in the border areas, Moscow and the conflict zone, where over 417,000 requests have been processed. More than 4,400 tons of humanitarian aid have been transferred to the victims. More than 8,200 volunteers participated in helping the victims. As part of the project to restore private housing for those in need in the conflict zone, 860 private homes have been restored. Volunteer priests travel in shifts to 45 hospitals in the conflict zone. Together with the Synodal Department for Charity, a service is working to help veterans of the SVR and their loved ones.