On August 24, Ukrainian Orthodox communities marked Ukraine’s Independence Day by offering prayers of thanksgiving and holding memorial services for the fighters who have fallen in the ongoing war in Romania’s neighbouring country.
Special prayers for peace, as recommended by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania, in March 2022, were also recited in every Ukrainian parish in Romania.
The event was attended by Ukrainian citizens temporarily residing in Romania, representatives of the Romanian community, and staff from the Ukrainian Embassy in Bucharest.
A High-altitude Commemoration
A special commemorative event took place at the Romanian-Ukrainian border in Maramureș County.
Nicolae Mișulec, president of the Voice of the Hutsuls of the Carpathians Association, initiated the event, which was conducted by Father Mihai Sacaloș, the parish priest of the Ukrainian community in Valea Vișeului, along with a group of volunteers.
The group affixed a metal cross to the concrete base on the peak of Pop Ivan and blessed it, after which a memorial service was held for the heroes and victims of the war in Ukraine.
“Those familiar with the climb can confirm that those who reach the summit are worthy of receiving a reward. Even more so when the cause is moral and spiritual,” Father Mihai Sacaloș conveyed to the publication Binevestitorul of the Ukrainian Orthodox Vicariate in Romania.
“On those heights, we recalled the scenes of the Transfiguration of the Saviour on Mount Tabor, and with the troparion of the feast in mind, we felt God closer to us and the Ukrainian people.”
Ukraine’s Independence Day, celebrated on August 24, marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Approximately 80% of the ethnic Ukrainians in Romania are Orthodox Christians. The Ukrainian Orthodox Vicariate is an administrative-territorial unit canonically dependent on the Romanian Patriarchate, dedicated to Ukrainian Orthodox believers living in Romania.
These believers attend services conducted in their native language by Ukrainian priests or Ukrainian-speaking clergy.
Photo: Binevestitorul.ro
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