Lutsk, August 3, 2020
Photo: spzh.news
Lutsk, one of the medieval capitals of the knightly land of Volhynia is again embattled for the faith. The parish of the icon of the Mother of God “The Joy of All Who Sorrow”, having been forced out of their church, are now praying in a new chapel.
The parish which was forced away from their church home in February of 2019, and completed repair work on the new chapel in late July of 2020. A correspondent of the Union of Orthodox Journalists visited the community and gave a report.
Photo: spzh.news For many years their church was located at the Lutsk military hospital, where the parish was registered as a legal entity. In February of 2019, however, due to the political situation, the church was asked to close and leave the place where they’ve always prayed. The rector of the community, Archpriest Evheniy Polishchuk, took the icons and the altar from the premises and sadly handed over the keys. All that’s left in memory of their time at the military hospital is a little gold decorative dome from the old church, which now lays in the new chapel beside the window. Six months later, after they left, a fire broke out in that very hospital.
Since then, the community has worked to rebuild and start anew. Father Evheniy prepared a chapel in his yard, on the territory of a private house in the village Korshev. Here he brought his parishioners from the city, and received those residents of the village who remained in the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, after a local Korshev community and their priests transferred to a new schismatic church.
The parish community has managed to find joy in their sorrows in their resurrected prayerful home, and thank all the caring people of Lutsk and Volhynia for their support, through which they were able to survive and rebuild.
