Metropolitan Theodore (Gayun): Cross Procession to Pochaev unites Ukraine and neighboring states (VIDEO)

Pilgrims from Poland, Moldova, Georgia and other European countries take part in the Cross Procession to the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra, which started in Kamenets-Podolsky on August 19. This was said by Metropolitan Theodore of Kamenets-Podolsky and Gorodok, reports a UOJ correspondent. 

Archbishop Theodore blessed the pilgrims to bear a feat of the Cross Procession and said that "The Cross Procession is spiritual by nature and has spiritual goals and is full of the grace of the Holy Spirit ... May we live up to our feat." 

"The Kamenets-Podolsky Procession has perhaps the longest history in Ukraine. It has been held for more than 150 years. A tradition to go to the Pochaev Lavra on a pilgrimage started from the moment when a blind girl from Kamenets-Podolsky, who used to attend a pilgrimage in the Pochaev Lavra, was healed of the disease and became sighted. Since then Podolians annually have made pilgrimages to the sacred sites of the Pochaev Lavra," the Bishop stressed. 

He said that the Cross Procession began to attract people from other cities and villages, and has now become not only regional but all-Ukrainian and even international. "People come here from Poland, Moldova, Georgia, even from European countries. Our Procession of the cross is well-known. We do not need to promote it. People on the call of the heart go on this procession, because they understand how great the power of a conciliar prayer is," the Archbishop added. 

"During a certain physical feat – and a procession of the cross is always a physical feat – during a prayer spiritual energy is also concentrated, which helps a person to be purified, to repent of their sins, helps to better understand their lives, to feel good so that in peace and harmony to decide their personal fate and the fate of the nation, of the loved ones, the prayer for whom becomes special during the religious procession," he explained. 

"Thank God that we have such a tradition, the Cross Procession. One old man said that when a cross procession is being held - forces of the hell tremble. We know that it is such a feat, such spiritual exploits that destroy the forces of evil and affirm the forces of good, which can further help us properly build our personal and social life. We cannot do anything good without faith in God, and a feat of a cross procession is a feat of faith, it is a feat of our piety, the feasible work that we are presenting so that with God’s help to do good deeds and affirm good on earth," said Metropolitan Theodore in the conclusion.

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