Romanian hierarch making a pilgrimage to shrines of UOC

Bishop Andrei (Moldovan) of Covasna and Harghita. Photo: kdais.kiev.ua

On January 11-13, 2021, the hierarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Bishop Andrei (Moldovan) of Covasna and Harghita, who is currently making a pilgrimage to Ukraine, visited shrines in several eparchies of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, reports the UOC Information and Education Department.

So, on January 11, Bishop Andrei visited Chernivtsi and Ternopil, where he bowed to local shrines and met with the ruling bishops of the UOC eparchies – Metropolitan Meletius of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna and Metropolitan Sergius of Ternopil and Kremenets. While in the Ternopil Eparchy, the bishop visited the Holy Dormition Pochaiv Lavra.

During the pilgrimage, on January 12, Bishop Andrei (Moldovan) of Covasna and Harghita visited the monasteries of the Rivne Eparchy of the UOC and met with the vicar of the diocese, Bishop Pimen of Dubno.

On January 13, on the day of commemoration of St. Peter the Mohyla, Metropolitan of Kyiv, and Hieromartyr Dositheus, Metropolitan of Zagreb-Ljubljana, Bishop Andrei, together with the rector of the KTAS, Bishop Sylvester of Belogorodka, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Stephen side-altar of the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. With the blessing of the Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine, weekly services are held in this side-chapel for Romanian-speaking parishioners residing in Kyiv.

During the liturgy, the bishops were concelebrated by the clergy of the Romanian Orthodox Church and the clerics of the Kyiv Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in particular, the rector of the Moldovan-Romanian parish at the Kyiv Caves Monastery, Archpriest Dimitri Popescu.

Representatives of the Romanian Embassy in Ukraine and the Ukrainian Embassy in Romania attended the service.

At the end of the liturgy, Bishop Sylvester of Belogorodka conveyed congratulations from the Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Onuphry, to the Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church and presented the publications of the Kyiv Theological Academy.

After the service, Bishop Andrei of Covasna and Harghita, together with the Romanian cultural advisor, representatives of embassies and clergy of the Kyiv Eparchy, laid flowers at the monument to St. Peter Mohyla.

Let us recall that earlier the UOC explained why the Romanian Church adopted the charter of the Ukrainian vicariate.

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