Monday, 28 March 2016, a group of Ukrainian pilgrims, priests and faithful, accompanied by their Archbishop, His Eminence Luca of Saporojie and Melitopol, visited several religious places of Bucharest. One of them was Antim Monastery, where they were received by His Grace Varlaam Ploieşteanul, Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch – TRINITAS TV informs.
His Eminence Luca said he visited Romania for the first time at the canonisation of Saint Pahomius from Gledin where he was impressed by the great faith of the people who had come to the feast. The pilgrims are here in the context of an anniversary time.
“This year it is 1000 years of Russian monasticism at the Holy Mount Athos and on this occasion we went on a pilgrimage to Mount Athos. We did want to visit the holy places of Romania too because Saint Paisios Velicikovski unites us”, His Eminence said.
His Grace Varlaam Ploieşteanul underlined, in his turn, the very good relationship between the two sister Orthodox Churches.
“There is an old religious solidarity between the two countries. This fact can be also seen in the things that seemed rather natural at the time, namely many monks of Ukrainian origin lived in the Romanian mediaeval monasteries. There were especially Moldavians or from Maramureş in the very well-known monasteries of Ukraine or Kievan Russia”, His Grace said.
Today, the group of Ukrainian pilgrims have also visited the Patriarchal Cathedral.
Photo: Lumina Newspaper
