Over 80 Thousand Pigrims, Including Governors, Participated in Pilgrimage to Zarvanytsya

This year over 80 thousand pilgrims from all Ukraine and from abroad took part in a pilgrimage to the Maria’s Spiritual Center in Zarvanytsia, which is in the Ternopil region. The pilgrims were joined by the heads of the Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Lviv regional state administrations and other representatives of political and civic organizations, reports the Information Department of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC).

On the invitation of the UGCC, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the president of the Italian Episcopal Conference and metropolitan of Genoa, and the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine Ivan Yurkovych joined the pilgrimage to Zarvanytsya. The all-Ukrainian pilgrimage was led by the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Patriarch Lubomyr (Husar). Fourteen bishops, priests, monastics, and faithful of the UGCC took part in the pilgrimage.

This year the national pilgrimage to Zarvanytsya took place on July 17-18 and was devoted to the year of consecrated life. Underlining the importance of monastic vocation, the head of the UGCC expressed gratitude to the monastics for the prayers, fasting, and love with which they carry out their ministry.

On the first day of the pilgrimage Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco congratulated the pilgrims on behalf of the pope and bishops of Italy. The Hierarchal Divine Liturgy was led by the secretary of Synod of Bishops of UGCC Bishop Bohdan (Dzyurakh).

On Sunday bishops and priests walked from the Cathedral of the Mother of God of Zarvanytsya to the podium on the miraculous site. The head of the UGCC and president of Italian Episcopal Conference addressed the faithful. The Hierarchal Divine Liturgy was headed by Bishop Vasil (Semenyuk), Eparch of Ternopil-Zboriv. Water was blessed at the completion of pilgrimage, and church hierarchies blessed the pilgrims.