Patriarch Theophilus III of Jerusalem awarded Archbishop Oleksandr (Drabynko) of Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi and Vyshneve of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate with the highest award of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church, the Holy Cross of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre.
Patriarch Theophilus III of Jerusalem awarded Archbishop Oleksandr (Drabynko) of Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi and Vyshneve of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate with the highest award of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church, the Holy Cross of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre with the golden crown.
The award was presented on 28 November, during a visit of a delegation of UOC-MP to the Holy Land to bring back the Shroud of the Holy Virgin which stayed in Ukraine from 19 September to 26 November.
“We present this cross to strengthen and help Archbishop Oleksandr to continue to serve with the same zeal in God and to fulfill his Church duties for the good of the Ecumenical Church and Ukrainian nation,” said Patriarch Theophilus III.
“We would like to honour Archbishop Oleksandr and bless the whole Ukrainian nation, the Church of Ukraine and brother in Christ, blessed Metropolitan Volodymyr of Kyiv and All Ukraine,” added the patriarch. So reported the web site of UOC-MP.