Ukrainian Catholics pray for successful synod to elect new head
Today the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) is preparing for the election of a new primate. The decree to convene the synod, which was passed to all the members of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC, reads that the election will be held on March 21-24 and the celebratory enthronement is planned for Sunday, March 27, 2011, in the Patriarchal Cathedral of Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv.
The administrator of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Archbishop Ihor (Vozniak), on February 16 addressed the clergy and faithful of the UGCC with a call to pray for a successful Electoral Synod and election of the new head of the church.
"The election of the new head is God's work, which urges all of us, the clergy and laity, to sincerely prayer in order to choose a person according to God's will. I am calling everyone to sincerely prayer for the Spirit of the Lord to point to that person like He pointed to the Prophet David in the old times (1 Sam. 16:12) and to anoint the newly elected head as His chosen one and leader of God's people of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. I instruct all the church communities to say in one voice and one heart the prayer O Heavenly King three times after services and "Glory to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit today and forever. Amen" once after the services for a successful Electoral Synod," reads the address of the administrator of the UGCC.
At the end of each liturgy, and at the Litany of Fervent Supplication until the completion of the Electora Synod, the following request will be added in the churches of the UGCC: "We also pray to our Lord God for Him to hear the voice of prayer of us sinful ones and to send the grace of the Holy Spirit unto the members of the election synod of our church, strengthen them, enlighten them and guide their Godly work to the happy end," reported the Information Department of the UGCC.
