During the All-Ukraine online pilgrimage to Zarvanytsia, UGCC Patriarch Sviatoslav renewed the act of dedication of the Ukrainian people under the protection of the Protection Veil of the Holy Theotokos.
A quarter of a century ago, Patriarch Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky also dedicated Ukraine and the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos in Zarvanytsia according to the UGCC Information Department.
The head of the UGCC reminded that the first person who dedicated the Ukrainian people under the Protection Veil of the Most Holy Theotokos was Yaroslav the Wise.
“It was when he opened an unbreakable wall before the eyes of the Kyiv community - Oranta, which stands with outstretched hands in prayer before God's face. Interestingly, the inscription on it says that the Lord is in the middle of the city, and it will not shake. This is exactly the faith that we hear about in today's gospel reading. It was shown for the first time by Yaroslav the Wise," stressed the head of the UGCC.
“Twenty-five years ago,” said the head of the UGCC, “our predecessor Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky restored the act of consecration of Ukraine and the Church to the protection of the Mother of God here, in the pilgrimage center in Zarvanytsia."
“At that time, more than a million pilgrims came here. We then thanked God that the power of faith of the persecuted Church did not bring the Ukrainian people to their knees in the face of the worst repression, poverty, destruction and violence," he said.
He recalled the words of Patriarch Iosyp Slipyy, who claimed that Ukraine gave up mountains of corpses and rivers of blood as a testimony of faith before the Lord God. Then Myroslav Ivan Lubachevsky, thanks for the gift of freedom, restored this dedication.
According to His Beatitude Sviatoslav, since that time, we have understood that freedom and independence are God's gift for us. They are God's answer to the faith of our fathers.
“We also resumed a similar act of dedication on the eve of the feast of the Mother of God in 2014. Then our bishops all over the world knelt in their cathedrals and restored the act of dedication. As you remember, Ukraine then lay defenseless and weakened in the face of the aggressor, who shed the blood in Donbas and Crimea,” Patriarch Sviatoslav added.
We see that the Most Holy Theotokos has covered us with a veil. God appeared and gave us power. We remained one Church and one Ukraine.
The Head of the UGCC noted that hearing that the world was put on its knees before the disease, today we will kneel before the miracle-working icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. Such an act, he said, will prove our faith that God is ready to work a miracle here for those of us who believe.
Due to the quarantine, the All-Ukraine pilgrimage to the Marian Spiritual Center "Zarvanytsia", which annually attracts thousands of pilgrims, took place online.
The pilgrimage began on July 18 with the Vespers in the Cathedral of Ternopil at 17: 00.
On July 19, at 9: 00 am, a Liturgy was held in Zarvanytsia, which was served by Patriarch Sviatoslav together with the bishops of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC.