Path to the Episcopate
Oleh Vedmedenko was born in Lutsk on 18 September 1961 to actress Polina Vedmedenko and hydrogeologist Valentyn Marchuk, who headed a hydrogeology laboratory. He studied at School No. 9 and Music School No. 1, graduated from the Kyiv Institute of Civil Aviation Engineers in 1979–1984, and then worked at Lutsk airport. Life took a different turn when he was thirty: doctors diagnosed cancer. He vowed to dedicate himself to service if he recovered, and he fulfilled it. This was recalled in an obituary published on 17 November 2021 by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, of which he had been a member for over ten years and wrote on spiritual topics for Volyn media.
In 1995, Vedmedenko enrolled in the Volyn Seminary as a correspondence student. In February 1997, he founded the Bible School of Spiritual Perfection at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Lutsk, and that same year he became a deacon, and in 1998 a protodeacon of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate. A conflict with the Kyiv Patriarchate arose in 2006: in October he was banned from ministry, and on 5 November of that year he was ordained a priest of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. In 2012, Vedmedenko became a bishop, in 2013 he headed the Volyn and Galicia Eparchy, and from 2015 to 2019 he was primate of the Ukrainian Independent Apostolic Orthodox Church.
Evening on Vasyl Moisei Avenue
On the evening of 14 November 2021, driver Roman Savych, 22, from the village of Zhydychyn, drove a Mazda onto the sidewalk of Vasyl Moisei Avenue and struck a pedestrian. According to Volynska Hazeta, the driver was drunk. He tried to flee the scene, but passersby and patrol officers detained him near the parking lot of the "Promin" shopping and entertainment center. Already in the hospital, on the morning of 15 November, Vedmedenko died. That evening, a litia was held at the "Christ's Resurrection" church, and on 16 November the bishop was given a funeral service and buried in the church courtyard. That same day, Lutsk City Court sent Savych into custody for 60 days without bail, until 12 January 2022.
Savych had already been convicted. In 2020, he attacked Lutsk municipal guards with a gas canister and received three years of restricted freedom. The Volyn Court of Appeal upheld this sentence on 19 October 2021, but according to newspapers, the punishment was not being enforced. Almost a month after the bishop's death, on 17 December 2021, a video of the accident appeared in the media, and the family sought to have the case classified under the article on involuntary manslaughter. The investigation was completed on 24 December, and the charges were supplemented with the corresponding part of the article.
"The bishop was a very influential and powerful figure in the spiritual life of Volyn"
With these words, journalist Svitlana Kulya opened Volynska Hazeta's article on the fourth anniversary of the bishop's death. According to her, the bishop remained in people's memory as "a bright memory and a moral guide."
Trial and Parish
On 22 February 2022, Lutsk City Court sentenced Roman Savych to eight years and six months of imprisonment and nine years of deprivation of rights. Prosecutor Natalia Havrus asked for nine years. The family of the deceased followed the case through lawyer Roman Khomych. On 7 September 2022, the Volyn Court of Appeal upheld the sentence unchanged.
The parish in Lutsk was taken over by the bishop's son, priest Vasyl Vedmedenko. The second son, Pavlo, also serves at the "Christ's Resurrection" church. Both continue the work their father began, and the bishop's grave is on the grounds of the church where he was rector. In November 2025, on the fourth anniversary of his death, Volynska Hazeta published an article about him with photographs, written by Svitlana Kulya.
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