In Lviv the Day of Defenders of the Homeland was celebrated with prayer

On February 22, 2009, on the eve of the Day of Defenders of the Homeland, Archbishop Ihor (Voznyak) of Lviv visited the Hetman Petro Sahaydachnyj Military Institute in Lviv, one of the oldest and leading military-educational institutions in the system of military formation of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The hierarch was met by the chief of the institute, a major-general and candidate of historical sciences, Professor Paul Tkachuk, and the administration and students of the institute. As part of the visit, Archbishop Ihor celebrated a Divine Liturgy in the Military Chapel of St. Michael the Archangel. Addressing all present, the Archbishop of Lviv hoped that they would worthily prepare for and spend the time of Lent. At the same time he gave thanks for their faithful and permanent willingness to keep watch for their homeland. At the completion, the head of the religious mission Center of Military Chaplaincy, Fr. Stepan Sus, thanked the ruling hierarch of Lviv for care and spiritual leadership in the field of military chaplaincy. The mission Center of Military Chaplaincy, which operates at the institute, is a religious organization whose activity is directed at satisfying the spiritual necessities of servicemen and members of their families, providing them with spiritual care in different stages of study and service in the military forces of Ukraine and other power structures. For the realization of tasks, workers of the center try to apply appropriate methods of work with servicemen, remaining always open and ready to come to aid at times of need, trying to be near in difficult situations and to assist in the lifting of their fighting spirit, to contribute their own “penny” to the spiritual and patriotic development of servicemen.

Deacon Pavlo Drozdyak
Press-secretary of the Archeparchy of Lviv