New Rus’, Ukraine, July 10, 2018
Fr. Alexander Yarosh spent the past nearly two years going door-to-door in the village of New Rus’ and the surrounding settlements in the territory of the eastern Ukrainian Diocese of Dnipropetrovsk with one request: to beautify and improve the territory of the local miraculous healing spring for the convenience of pilgrims and tourists.
The issue has finally gained traction this year, with the People’s Deputy and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Sunday Schoolsin the Pavlograd Deanery Artur Martovitsky responding positively to the priests’ request, reports tn-express.dp.ua.
The healing spring sits atop a high hill near the village of New Rus’. People go there not only from Pavlograd and the nearby settlements, but even from the neighboring Kharkov Province to collect the healing water.
“I remember, there was no church in the village in the 1990s. The faithful old women would go there and pray molebens during the drought, for rain to come. And, oddly enough, rain would always fall in the village within a day or two after these molebens. The locals know about this,” Valentina Goncharneko, the warden of several local villages recalls.
“The healing spring in our village possesses great healing power and never freezes. Thanks to this project, the spring will get a second wind and will become a highlight for the guests and residents of the village,” Goncharenko added.
The spring was revived after the church community of New Rus’ began to take care of it, developing the site as they were able, including installing a pipe for the water to flow form the spring to a well. A small table and cross were also set up nearby by the parents of a boy who was healed at the spring.
The Pavlograd Deanery has signed a contract for the beautification project, and a design has already been developed, taking into account the desires of the local inhabitants, priests, and local and regional representatives.
“The project provides a place for prayer, rest, and ablutions with water from the spring,” Martovitsky explained.
The improved territory of the spring will be named in honor of St. Panteleimon the Great Martyr and Healer.
Work on the spring soon with funding from the Charitable Foundation for the Promotion of the Socio-Economic Development of Western Donbass, founded by Martovitsky. The project also received $2,100 from a local competition.
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