UOC hierarch: There are cases of healing among pilgrims to Pochaiv

Rector of the Pochaiv Seminary, Archbishop Job of Shumsk. Photo: pds.org.ua

The rector of the Pochaiv Theological Seminary, Archbishop Job of Shumsk, told UOJ in an interview that the traditional prayer procession to the Pochaiv Lavra brings believers spiritual and bodily transformation, including cases of healing and the resolution of difficult life problems.

According to the archpastor, the multi-day prayer procession has a profound healing and strengthening effect on the spirit and body of believers. "The prayer procession transforms those who take part in it, tempering them spiritually and physically," noted Archbishop Job. "Some are even healed, while others find their difficult problems resolved on their own." The bishop added that by the end of the prayer journey, the grace of God rests upon all the pilgrims.

The hierarch emphasized that the procession to the feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos represents a profound spiritual and penitential feat of the people. "The religious procession is the transformation of the people in repentance before the Lord God," stated the rector of the seminary. "After each cross procession, our land becomes holier, purer, more beautiful..."

The bishop compared the prayer procession to the Pochaiv Monastery to the arrival of the holy Apostles in Jerusalem for the burial of the Mother of God, describing the procession as “a spiritual parade celebrating the Great Victory of Life over death.” Archbishop Job also recalled that the prayerful journey traditionally concludes with the singing of Paschal hymns and the joyful proclamation, “Christ is Risen!”, since the Feast of the Dormition is the Virgin Mary’s birth into Eternity and the Pascha of the Mother of God.

As the UOJ reported, Ukrainians criticized an official who called the pilgrimage to Pochaiv a "horrifying".

Read also