November 22, 2012
Eva Kovalevskaya. Since the beginning of World pro-life campaign "From coast to coast" the Mother of God of Czestochowa icon has travelled over 30,000 miles, visited 20 countries and more than 90 cities. The head of the regional office of the "Human Life International" Bureau in Eastern and Central Europe Eva Kovalevskaya described this journey at the "The sanctity of motherhood" forum, reports Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
“There is a struggle of life against death, against abortion; it takes place all over the world. We have decided to take the holy icon and go to the first line of the front. We chose the Czestochowa icon. It is very old and is known in Russia and in all the rest of the world as the "Black Madonna". The surprising fact is that no matter where we were, we did not encounter a single drop of aggression. And the icon is moving constantly, it is not staying in one place for even a day,” said Eva Kovalevskaya.
According to her, it is important that this event is not organized by the Church, but by ordinary people and various organizations that want to protect life.
“Our route lay through Moscow from Minsk to Vladivostok and Kazakhstan. From the Pacific Ocean the icon has travelled all over Russia, and visited Nizhny Novgorod. Then it went throughout Central Europe and other European countries including Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the UK. Right now the icon is in Ireland, but on November 25 it will already be in France. Then we are to go to Spain and Portugal. Next year we hope to go from the Atlantic Ocean across America and Canada to the Pacific Ocean,” said Kovalevskaya.
She expressed her admiration for the fact that more than two million people venerated the icon and that women in Belarus came and asked the Mother of God to forgive them for having abortions. According to Kowalewskaya, "It is deep in the conscience of every woman, but the Mother of God heals and teaches us love towards our families.
“In each country we visited, lectures, concerts, and conferences were held; the brochures written in 20 languages were distributed. People from different cultures have shown genuine interest in the event.
“It is God's will that the icon’s journey and the program started in the East and that it comes from Russia. Russia is the first country in the world where abortion was legalized by Lenin. Now the Mother of God comes from Russia to show the world that it is necessary to protect the lives of your children and your family. This is what God wants. I see that faith is coming back to Russia. The West, on the contrary is losing it,” said Kovalevskaya in conclusion.