Vashkivtsi, Chernivtsi, Province, Ukraine, August 16, 2023
UOC Diocese of Chernivtsi and Bukovina
Thousands of Ukrainian Orthodox faithful flocked to venerated sites of miracles worked by God and the Theotokos for back-to-back feasts this week.
Parishioners and pilgrims first gathered at a monastery in the Chernivtsi Province to celebrate the feast of the Procession of the Life-Giving Wood of the Cross and the Holy Maccabean Martyrs on Monday.
UOC Diocese of Chernivtsi and Bukovina
His Eminence Metropolitan Sergei of Ternopil, one of the most beloved hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, led the celebration at the St. Anna Convent in Vashkivtsi, Chernivtsi Province. He was concelebrated by the local hierarch, His Eminence Metropolitan Meletiy of Chernivtsi and Bukovina, and five other bishops, together with local and visiting clergy, reports the Diocese of Chernivtsi and Bukovina.
UOC Diocese of Chernivtsi and Bukovina
Abbess Augusta and the sisterhood of the St. Anna Convent and monastics from other monasteries attended the Divine Liturgy.
During the service, prayers were offered for peace in Ukraine and that the Lord might bless those who are suffering. At the end of the service, Met. Sergei blessed honey and all the people with holy water.
The Convent stands on the spot where, according to ancient tradition, a young girl named Anna was miraculously saved from Turkish-Tatar attackers when God opened up a hole in the ground for her to hide in and thus preserve her honor. Locals erected a cross and the hill became known as Annina.
At the end of the 19th century, people would gather on the hill to ask for mercy during the cholera epidemic. After the epidemic, a wooden Church of St. Anna was erected. The church burned down as a result of a lightning strike in the inter-war period, but in 1992, Fr. Mikhail Savva took the initiative to build a new Church of St. Anna. In 1994, novices began to appear and soon a convent was built, now serving as a place of pilgrimage for the Orthodox faithful.
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The next day, Met. Sergei of Ternopil led the feast of the appearance of the Mother of God in Josaphat Valley in the Vinnitsa Province. He was again joined by a number of UOC hierarch, notably including His Eminence Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchin, who was recently sentenced to five years in prison, though the decision has not yet entered into force.
The persecuted Met. Jonathan of Tulchin served. Photo: eparhia.vn.ua
Prayers were again offered for peace in Ukraine, for all those who suffer, and for the persecuted Church.
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The feast commemorates when the Mother of God appeared to a shepherd named Jacob in 1923, ordering him to erect crosses in valley. Since, then, Orthodox faithful have been coming there on pilgrimage, carrying and erecting crosses.
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After the service, an icon of the miraculous appearance of the Theotokos was blessed, as were the crosses brought by the faithful.
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