UOC clergy end all-Ukrainian procession with prayer for peace

Participants of the nationwide religious procession of the UOC. Photo: news.church.ua

Military priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church held the final fifth stage of the all-Ukrainian procession with the prayer for peace and victory of Ukraine and its defenders, reports the Synodal Department for Cooperation with the Armed Forces and other military formations of Ukraine.

On 24 May 2023, after Divine Liturgy at the Kyiv Church of All Saints soldiers, the participants of the cross procession with the holy relics – the icon of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos with a piece of Her omophorion and the reliquary containing the relics of 30 holy warrior-martyrs – went to the south of the country. On the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, the priests arrived in the Odesa region and began their journey in the border and frontline eparchies of the UOC – Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, and Nova Kakhovka.

During the procession, the clergy visited the military units and three hospitals, handed over humanitarian aid and offered prayers.

The cross procession ended with the Divine Liturgy at the Cossack St. Vvedensky Church in Berislav, Kherson region. The service was led by the deputy head of the UOC Military Department, Archpriest Viacheslav Yakovenko.

As reported, the first stage of the all-Ukrainian cross procession was the Easter spiritual-humanitarian mission, with which clerics visited eight units of the AFU, four hospitals and two war-affected towns in the Donbas.

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