750 children participate in Christmas tree party in Kyiv organised by UOC

Christmas tree in Kiev. Photo: news.church.ua

On January 7, 2022, Christmas Day, 750 orphaned children, children with disabilities and internally displaced persons, children from large and troubled families from different regions of Ukraine attended the traditional Christmas tree charity event, which was held at the Lesia Ukrainka National Theater of Russian Drama in Kyiv, reports news.church.ua.

The event was organized by the Synodal Department of Youth Affairs, supported by the Andrei Derkach charitable organization "Our Future" and the International Charitable Fund in honour of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos and was held with the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.

The children's holiday was established under His Beatitude, Metropolitan Vladimir, and is now in its eighteenth year. 

The Christmas celebration consisted of two parts. First, volunteers in costumes of fairy tale characters greeted the children in the hall of the theatre. The children were treated to tangerines, juice and sweets and then escorted into the hall and seated.

In the second part, the children watched a play staged by professional actors from the Lesia Ukrainka National Theatre of Russian Drama.

Before the start of the performance, the Chairman of the Synodal Department of the UOC for Youth Affairs, Archbishop Iona of Obukhiv, congratulated everyone on Christmas, conveyed greetings from His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry and gave an archpastoral blessing.

At the end of the holiday, each child received a sweet gift in memory of a wonderful day.

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