UGCC Patriarch led celebrations of 400th anniversary of restoring Basilian Order

400 years ago, the renaissance of the Basilian Order was undoubtedly the state and nation-creating force that always shone the way of our people, perhaps in the deepest darkness of our historical existence. This was stated by Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Patriarch Sviatoslav on May 21, 2017 during a pilgrimage to the monastery of St. Nicholas in Krekhiv.

On May 20-21 this year, as in previous years, on the occasion of the Feast of Translation of the Relics of St. Nicholas from the Myra of Licia to Bari, the Krehiv monastery that is dedicated to this saint, welcomed numerous pilgrims from all over Ukraine and abroad.

This year's celebration was part of the solemnities of the 400th anniversary of the Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat.

"We are here,” said the Primate of the UGCC – in this ancient monastery, first of all to contemplate and celebrate the presence among us of the great father, the great saint of the Church of Christ - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra in Licia."

According to him, the figure of the saint shows us that holy men are the ones who make history, that holy men are the ones who can be real leaders of their people and Church. “So today we praise St. Nicholas and plead that our Church never lacked saints who have created the modern history of our Church and our nation,” said the preacher.

In this pilgrimage, said the Head of the Church, we also want to celebrate 400 years of religious revival of ancient Kyivan Church of the Basilian Order. “Behind this stands Joseph Velyamyn Rutsky – my great predecessor who gave to our Church and revived the monasticism, which from the beginning of Christianity was a light to our people, enlightened all corners of Eastern Europe with the light of Christ's Gospel,” said the patriarch.

The Patriarch said: “Today we thank God that as the fruit of this revival of Kyiv monasticism through the efforts of Velyamyn Rutsky, this monastic community shone with the light of holiness in such a generous way. “This year we will remember and will celebrate 150 years of St. Josaphat Kuntsevych, who is laid to rest in the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome. Also we thank you for all the known and unknown martyrs of the Church who came from this Basilian community. We are grateful for the good missionaries who went to the vast steppes of Western Canada and North America in the vast forests of Brazil and Argentina following the appeal of the Good Shepherd, Righteous Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky. And thanks to them and their holiness, our people, who by force of historical circumstances were dispersed throughout the world, have not been lost, have not lost their roots, as they have always had the light of life. "

“I would like that the pilgrimage and the anniversary year of the Basilian order for all of us, for our monastic men’s and women’s communities became a font, where all we could wash ourselves and get reborn,” said the patriarch.

The preacher also expressed his intention to pray for those who became leaders of the Ukrainian people by people’s choice. “I will pray that they did not wander in darkness and did not lead us into another pit, that the Lord give us such leaders who are good Christians. I will pray that Christian faith became a priority for them and was in first place in their lives,” the Patriarch wished to Ukrainians. It was reported by the Information Department of the UGCC.