500,000 expected to participate in pilgrimage to Zarvanytsia (07/23/00)

500,000 expected to participate in pilgrimage to Zarvanytsia

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - About a half million Ukrainians from around the world are expected to take part in a pilgrimage to the religious shrine at Zarvanytsia, which will culminate on July 22-23 with the blessing of a new sobor under construction in the village.

Organized by the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, the "proscha" is intended as a celebration of the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ and an opportunity for Ukrainian Greek-Catholics to gather in thanksgiving.

Bishop Lubomyr Husar, who is the administrative director of the Church, underscored during a July 12 press conference in Kyiv that, in addition, he believes the pilgrimage should be an act of purification and forgiveness for inter-confessional acts of violence and hatred committed by the various religious confessions of Ukraine upon one another over the last century.

"Each of the faiths is guilty. We cannot say they were and we weren't," explained Bishop Husar, who said the pilgrims will pray for the reunification of the Ukrainian Church.

Besides the blessing of the sobor, a highlight of the weekend will include a candlelight vigil on Saturday evening, which will be followed by the placement of a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the site of a wellspring believed to have miraculous healing powers, and then a midnight service of stations of the cross. On Sunday the entire Church leadership will take part in a liturgical service, to be followed by greetings from Pope John Paul II and Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma.

The gathering is one of the central events of the Ukrainian government's year 2000 celebration, and as such will be attended by representatives of the various branches of the Ukrainian government. President Kuchma has given preliminary notification that he will attend on Sunday, although on July 19 his press service still had not received confirmation of his July 23 itinerary.

Other high-ranking Ukrainian government officials scheduled to take part in the celebrations are Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ivan Pliusch.

World religious leaders also will be in attendance. Pope John Paul II has assigned Bishop Vinko Pulic of Sarajevo, to be his special representative, while the apostolic nuncio to Ukraine, Archbishop Mykola Eterovic, will represent the Vatican. Bishop Pulic is expected to give a sermon in the Ukrainian language at the Sunday liturgical service, which will also be attended by Cardinal Ivan Lubachivsky, the leader of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. After the liturgy, Archbishop Eterovic is scheduled to read a greeting from the pontiff to his Ukrainian flock.

The three Ukrainian Orthodox Churches have accepted invitations to send representatives as well.

All 40 hierarchs of the World Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church will take part in the two-day series of religious services, concerts and mass meetings after their annual synod - scheduled for July 17-21 in the town of Buchach - ends.

Pilgrims are expected from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Poland and Germany. Bishop Husar explained that he believes the vast majority of the attendees will be from Ukraine.

Zarvanytsia, a small village located on the Strypa River in the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine, is known for the miraculous healing powers of its mineral springs and a 13th century icon of the Theotokos. Eastern Europeans, especially Ukrainians, have journeyed to the site for hundreds of years.

The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church would like to turn the shrine into a major pilgrimage point for members of the Greek-Catholic faith, similar in importance for its faithful as Lourdes, the French town that receives millions of visitors every year, is to Roman Catholics. The new church that is scheduled to be blessed on July 22 is part of an extensive renovation and expansion effort currently under way at the Zarvanytsia shrine.

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