Met Onuphry distributes “backpacks of mercy” to children for new school year

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry at the Florovsky Monastery in Kyiv. Photo: UOC press service

On August 30, on the eve of the feast of the holy martyrs Florus and Laurus, following the festive all-night vigil at the Florovsky Monastery in Kyiv, the Social Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church carried out its annual charitable initiative “Backpack of Mercy,” the UOC Information and Education Department reports.

On the threshold of the new academic year, some 300 children from families of forced migrants received school backpacks filled with essential school supplies.

Distributing the gifts to the children was His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, the Primate of the UOC. Beforehand, he blessed the students for the new school year and sprinkled them with holy water.

The head of the Social Department, Archpriest Serhiy Ekshiyan, noted that the “Backpack of Mercy” initiative was once again made possible through the financial support of the Charitable Foundation of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry Peace Be With You, as well as through the generosity of compassionate parishioners of the Church.

As the UOJ previously reported, the UOC had detailed the scale of assistance provided during the war.

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