News from the UGCC Information Department
“Krylos is a special place for us because it is here that we are able to touch the foundations of the Ecumenical Council of the Kings of Halych. For UGCC, as for all Ukrainians, a pilgrimage to the village of Krylos is an opportunity to touch the roots of our spiritual church legacy. For us it is important that the roots which we have here be not dead but alive,” explained His Beatitude Sviatoslav (Shevchuk), UGCC Head,in answering a journalist’s question on July 29, 2012 during the All-Ukrainian Patriarchal Pilgrimage to the Galician Miraculous Icon of the Blessed Mother in the village Krylos.in Ivano-Frankivsk region.
The Church Primate noted that UGCC is already in its second year of preparation for the commemoration of the 1025th Jubilee of the Baptism of Rus-Ukraine which will take place in 2013. Therefore, within the context of carrying out this All-Ukrainian Pilgrimage, UGCC Head told media representatives, it is important that all Ukrainians, not only Greek-Catholics, but al, feel that the Baptism of King Volodymyr is that which unites Christians and is the foundation of community and government life.” His Beatitude Sviatoslav feels that it is important that youth can recognize this foundation.
“Metropolitan Andrey (Sheptytsky) in the 1930s blessed the archeologist Yaroslav Pasternak to work on unearthing the foundations of the Assumption Cathedral and researching the history of Ancient Halych. I believe that Bishop Andrey accomplished a great deed and we should assume responsibility for this legacy, which is ours today,” said UGCC Primate. In conversing with journalists, the UGCC Primate emphasized that during the pilgrimage to Krylos a special focus was on the children who this year partook for the first time in the Holy Sacraments, those of Confession and the Eucharist. Another special feature of the pilgrimage, according to UGCC Head, was that Ancient Halych, even in the new administrative order of UGCC, being on the territory of the newly-created Ivano-Frankivsk Metropolitanate of UGCC, falls under the jurisdiction of the Kyiv-Halych Head Archbishop.
“In uniting both ancient thrones – Kyiv and Halych – we want to preserve the unity and indivisibility of this Ancient Church which was born in the Dnipro waters during the Baptism of Volodymyr. Therefore an important objective in carrying out this pilgrimage was that children would embrace this legacy and would feel themselves in the center of the attention of their Chuch, comprehending the greatness and the youth of UGCC that today blossoms in Ukraine,” concluded His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
At the end, he reassured all present that the best UGCC cadres will be present in Halych, so that each one who comes here, receives a qualified answer to one’s question and service, because here is the face of the Church.
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