Patriarchal Pilgrimage Center to Organize Pilgrimage by Sacred Place

KYIV – Work “on entry,” that is the organization of pilgrimage by sacred places, which are on the territory of Ukraine, is a priority for the Patriarchal Pilgrimage Center, reported the head of executive working group of the Patriarchal Pilgrimage Center of the UGCC in an interview for the Information Department of the UGCC, Dmytro Myronenko.

For today, according to Mr. Myronenko, out of the five thousand tourist structures that function in Ukraine, only 5% work “on entry.” A similar tendency exists in the work with the pilgrims. By April of this year an executive working group will develop and catalogue the pilgrimage routes, which will be offered to a wide range of pilgrims.

“It is important that the routes which we have established will not only be of interest for the different confessions but that they acquire an all-Ukrainian status. Having a technical passport, every guide can take it and depart on a route. We want everyone to able to use it, including the five thousand tourist structures that work in Ukraine,” remarked the leader of the working group.

As Mr. Myronenko reported, the Patriarchal Pilgrimage Center is developing pilgrimage routes for festive days, and religious routes which will also include visits to sacred objects of pilgrim regional monuments.

More details about the work of the Patriarchal Pilgrimage Center of the UGCC, work of the monitoring group that during the last month visited 44 sacred church objects located in western Ukraine, the creation of a web resource for pilgrims, and the development of pilgrimage routes can be found in the interview of Dmytro Myronenko.

The Patriarchal Pilgrimage Center of the UGCC was created on May 8, 2009, at the patriarchal curia of the UGCC by the decree of the Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych His Beatitude Lubomyr in response to the initiative of the Patriarchal Community of St. Prince Volodymyr Equal-to-the-Apostles to better organize pilgrimage activity of the UGCC and to provide for the pilgrims’ spiritual needs.