Storm in Sambir Damages Church that Holds Relics of St. Valentine and Miraculous Icon of Virgin
On September 23, a storm passed through the Sambir region (Lviv Oblast), damaging over a hundred damaged, 14 roofs, the technical institute building, and the roof of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary – the only church in the Ukraine, which holds the relics of St. Valentine. In the same church is the Sambir miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary.
Construction of the Greek Catholic Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin began be in 1728. The church was never closed; even during the war worship was held there. According to the chronicles, on May 13, 1759, the relics of Saint Valentine were sent from the Vatican, as he was a patron of the Przemysl-Sambir Eparchy. But the archival documents were destroyed after the dissolution of the Greek Catholic Church by the USSR.
On February 14, St. Valentine's Day, once a year, the sarcophagus with the relics of the martyr is brought out for veneration. The believers at this time can seek for intercession and pray for harmony and mutual understanding in the family.
Serious illnesses have been healed in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Praying at the Icon of the Virgin Mary, according to the parish priest Bohdan Dobriansky, works wonders. The priest recalls that girl from Kyiv who had leukemia recovered after a pilgrimage to the church. Both she and her mother were unbelievers. But when they heard about the miraculous icon in Sambir, they came here and prayed at the shrine. Later in Kyiv the girl repeated examinations several times for her doctors because they couldn’t believe it: the disease has receded!
The total losses from the storm in Sambir and several surrounding villages have been estimated to be over one million hryvnias, the head of Department of Civil Protection of Lviv Regional State Administration Oleksiy Tytarenko told UNN.
He said the situation in Sambir has been declared an emergency at the local level. This means that the local reserves of the Sambir Regional State Administration and the Sambir municipality will be used to deal with the effects of the storm.
