First Liturgy held in renovated St. Andrew's Church

The first solemn service after the renovation was led by the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, in concelebration with the Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bishop Mykhailo of Komana and Archbishop Yevstratiy (Zorya) of Chernihiv and Nizhyn.

"Today, we are staying here in full obedience on behalf of our Primate, His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch, to represent him on today's holiday and on the eve of the second anniversary of the Unification Council, where His Beatitude Metropolitan Epifaniy was elected Primate of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine," Metropolitan Emmanuel said in his speech.

Metropolitan Emmanuel noted the special significance of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and also testified to the support of the Mother Church for all local churches that received the gospel from her, and especially for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Metropolitan Emmanuel thanked the representative of His Beatitude Metropolitan Epifaniy, Archbishop Evstratiy Zorya, for his concelebration and asked to convey his most sincere congratulations to the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The OCU reminds that on the site of the modern St. Andrew's church at the beginning of the XIII century there was the Holy Cross Church, the name of which reminds us of the Chronicle legends that it was here that the Apostle Andrew the first-called erected a cross, predicting the appearance of a great city: "on these mountains, the grace of God will shine, and there will be a great city, and God will raise many churches here."