Ten years after the Great Cross Procession: faith through trial
All-Ukrainian Cross Procession 2016. Photo: UOJ
On July 27, 2016, exactly ten years ago, the All-Ukrainian Cross Procession for Peace reached its destination in Kyiv. For nearly a month, two columns of pilgrims – one from the Sviatohirsk Lavra and the other from the Pochaiv Lavra – crossed the country before joining together in prayer on Volodymyr Hill.
Even then, the pilgrimage faced serious obstacles. Pilgrims were blocked from entering cities, bomb threats were reported along their route, and radical groups were incited against them.
Yet they reached Kyiv.
Eighty thousand faithful processed through the heart of the capital to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Together with those waiting at the monastery's gates, the gathering numbered close to 100,000 believers.
Today, those images evoke mixed emotions. The Lavra has been taken away, religious processions have been effectively banned, and the Church is facing persecution.
Yet Christ told us: "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom" (Luke 12:32).
And we should remember that the sun continues to shine even above the darkest clouds.
"We shall behold Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, Who shines forth life upon all."
Read also
On the forced mobilization of Metropolitan Serhiy of Tulchyn
TRC officers abducted a metropolitan whom the state itself had stripped of citizenship.
The veiled Lavra
Faith in Ukraine has not disappeared. It has simply been hidden from view – veiled.
UOC procession vs. Hasidic pilgrimage: one war, two security standards
The same country. The same war. The same threats. Yet, apparently, different rules – depending on one’s faith.
Who jokes about "eaten" Zelensky
Archpriest Volodymyr Mandziuk had his face doused with green antiseptic, and the words "Death to the occupiers" were written on his car.
Jokes about killing UOC priests
Resources close to the OCU are testing the idea of killing UOC clergy.
Want a “Ukrainian Vatican”? Give the Lavra back to the Church and go home
If Maksym Ostapenko’s logic is taken literally, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra should become the same kind of state within Ukraine that the Vatican is within Italy.