Chernivtsi, March 26, 2020
YouTube screenshot
Given the restrictions on mass gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic, hierarchs and clergy throughout the Orthodox world have begun blessing their cities and towns in vehicular and even aerial processions, taking wonderworking icons and holy relics with them.
OrthoChristian earlier reported that His Eminence Metropolitan Pavel of Minsk blessed his city with sacred icons, relics, and holy water in a helicopter ride, and His Eminence Metropolitan John of Belgorod did the same in his province.
And yesterday, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, blessed his native land of Ukraine in a 300-mile flight from Kiev to Chernivtsi.
Praying for all those who are sick with the virus throughout his flight, His Beatitude blessed the Ukrainian land with the Pechersk Icon of the Mother of God, reports the YouTube channel of the Information-Education Department of the Ukrainian Church.
His Beatitude flew to Chernivtsi to deliver a new ventilator and 100 sets of protective gear for medical personnel. He has also called upon all monasteries of the UOC to prepare to receive coronavirus patients if necessary.
