Milan, June 18, 2026
Photo: Michalovsko-košická pravoslávna eparchia v Michalovciach
Orthodox Christian faithful of the Diocese of Michalovce and Košice of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia recently made a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Ambrose of Milan, who is considered one of the evangelizers of Slovakia.
His Eminence Archbishop Juraj of Michalovce and Košice led a Divine Liturgy over the relics of St. Ambrose, which are enshrined together with those of the holy martyrs Gervasius and Protasius in the ancient Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, on Friday, June 12, reports Romfea.
The hierarch was concelebrated by clergy from his diocese and from Italy. The Liturgy was celebrated in Slovak, Italian, Church Slavonic, Greek, and Latin.
Among those who attended were faithful from Slovakia, Italy, and Switzerland, including a group of newly baptized Orthodox Christians and catechumens from Turin.
St. Ambrose is venerated by Orthodox Slovaks as Equal-to-the-Apostles in the evangelization of present-day Slovakia and the Czech lands. Through his efforts, Queen Fritigil of the Germanic Marcomans—a tribe inhabiting the territory along the present Czech-Slovak borderlands—renounced Arianism together with her subjects and accepted the Orthodox confession of faith as formulated at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325.
The Slovak Orthodox pilgrims offered thanks at the saint’s tomb for the gift of sacred relics of several saints of Milan, which will henceforth sanctify their homeland.
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