His eminence Bohdan Dzyurakh, Exarch for Ukrainian Greek Catholics in Germany and Scandinavia, led the pilgrimage of Ukrainians to Blessed Edigna, granddaughter of Yaroslav the Wise, daughter of Anna Yaroslavna, Queen of France, whose relics are revered in the city of Puch.
This is reported by the UGCC Information Department.
During the bishop's sermon, the sirens sounded in the city of Puch, which were tested for serviceability, and His Eminence Bogdan addressed the pilgrims with these words: "Today we hear those sirens that remind us of the great calamity that came to our land eight years ago. But in February, this calamity revealed all its hellish hatred against our people. And we are here as children of our people to pray together for peace. To ask the Lord for help, intercession, and mercy."
Recalling the events of the revolution of dignity, when the Church came out with its people to the Maidan, accompanying them spiritually, His Eminence stressed that the bishops were guided by the principle "the Church, remaining the mother of its people, will comprehend something good with that people, or will stand under the Cross of their national suffering to the end."
Drawing an analogy between the events of the crucifixion of Jesus and the suffering of the Ukrainian people, His Eminence Bohdan identified those who did not like the preaching of the true Church of Christ, because it preached the truth and mutual love. These were those who passed indifferently away, with the tacit consent of which murders and betrayals occur.
"Indifference kills," the Bishop said, recalling that these words were inscribed on the houses of the capital during the Revolution of Dignity.
But among all those present under the cross, the hierarch singled out the mother of Jesus and those who were with him to the end.
"The Most-Pure Virgin Mary, and with her the Church, as a loving mother, accompanies her people to the end. Because Jesus is suffering in his members in Ukraine today. It is he who is killed, tied up and buried in mass graves. And that mother, although she cannot stop this bullying and pain, she shares it with her beloved son," the hierarch said.
At the end of the Liturgy, Mrs. Edigna Kellerman, chairman of the Society of blessed Edigna in Puch reached out to the Ukrainians with words of greeting and support. So did the member of the City Council of Furstenfeldbrook, Chairman of the Caritas office for work with migrants of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, Mr. Wilhelm Drechsler. In turn, the Exarch for Ukrainian Greek Catholics in Germany and Scandinavia expressed his gratitude and presented P. Edigni is a German-language publication about the blessed Martyrs of the Ukrainian people and the amber Rosary of unity.
His Eminence Bohdan also personally blessed each pilgrim with the relics of blessed Edith, and near the thousand-year-old Linden tree, where the Blessed One settled and spent more than thirty years of her life, he performed the act of consecration of Ukraine to the mother of God.
Background information
Blessed Edigna – granddaughter of Yaroslav the Wise, daughter of Anna Yaroslavna, Queen of France. She completed her ascetic path in Bavaria. She is called a saint that is common for three peoples: French, German and Ukrainian. Blessed Edigna recalls that for more than a thousand years Ukrainians have belonged to a large family of Christian peoples in Europe, which today Ukrainian defenders protect from the newest horde. The relics of the Blessed Edigna are venerated in the city of Puch. Exarchate organizes pilgrimages for Ukrainian Greek Catholics in Germany and Scandinavia every year.