AN APPEAL FOR SUPPORT

Seminary in Lutsk in need of funds

With the blessing of Metropolitan Constantine, St. Andrew's Society has initiated an urgent appeal for funds needed to rebuild the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) Seminary in Lutsk, which was heavily damaged apparently because of the active support its faculty and student body gave to the "Orange Revolution." The seminary was torched during the night of March 30 by the supporters of the old regime, and it can no longer continue to function.

The government of Ukraine expressed its outrage and sympathy, but is unable to provide any funds for the seminary's reconstruction. The UOC-KP is in a similar financial situation.

During the recent presidential election campaign, the faculty and students of the seminary served as observers in the Poltava region. News of the massive election fraud during the second round drove the seminarians into the streets, where they joined other protesting youth groups and spontaneously erected a tent city in the center of the town. Mykhailo Vitruk, a graduate of the seminary, became its leader.

A medical first aid station was set up at the seminary; its kitchen and dining facilities became a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week feeding center for the young protesters. The seminary's classrooms and dormitories served as a rest station where protesters could dry their clothes and shoes, take a nap and seek some relief from the snow and sub-zero temperatures.

Bishop Mykhail of the Volyn Eparchy of the UOC-KP and Father Ioan Nedzelsky, rector of the seminary, are appealing to people of good will to come to their rescue. The seminary must be rebuilt by September 1, the first day of classes of the new academic year.

St. Andrew's Society has already sent $1,000 to Lutsk to start the rebuilding process, but that is not enough. About $50,000 is needed. Each one of us should come with help. These young students truly deserve our assistance. Let us not allow "... our enemy to say, 'we have prevailed over them' " (Ps. 13:4).

Contribution may be sent to: St. Andrew's Society, 1023 Yorkshire Drive, Los Altos, CA 94024. Donations are tax-exempt.

Let us help the participants of the Orange Revolution not just by our words, but by our deeds.

For St. Andrew's Ukrainian Orthodox Society:
Michael Heretz, president
Volodymyr Bakum, secretary

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 3, 2005, No. 27, Vol. LXXIII

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