The prayer for millions of people, who live abroad, was taking place in Zarvanytsya

“The international pedestrian pilgrimage of migrant workers and their families from Sambir to Zarvanytsya is one of the longest, best organized and best quality pilgrimages in Ukraine. Its spirituality may be taken for its quality. We would like to express our gratitude to pilgrims, especially to the youth, whose moderation was really good and spiritually deep; as well as, to those pilgrims, who, during such a hot summer, with the assistance of a prayer and love for God, took the burden and asked for the necessary graces for our people, for our Church, for the families of migrant workers and for the whole fourth wave of Ukrainian migrant workers around the globe to remain true to ourselves, to stay Christian, to speak our native language, to pray in our Church and to honor the graves of our parents”, - with those words, Bishop Joseph (Milian), who is the head of the Pastoral and Missionary Department of UGCC, addressed the pilgrims in Zarvanytsya following the Divine Liturgy. The participants of the 7^th international pedestrian pilgrimage of migrant workers and their families managed to pass the 280km long distance. 350 people, coming from different 15 countries, reached Zarvanytsya. Father Vasyl Potochnyak, who is the spiritual coordinator of the pilgrimage and the executive secretary of the Pastoral and Missionary Department of UGCC, told that the monument for the Ukrainian-migrant workers will be placed at the praying field of “Zarvanytsya” spiritual centre. This will be a chapel, in the form of a hemisphere, zoned by the meridians, so as to symbolize the geography of migrants’ work. “We are collecting funds for the monument of migrant workers. So that this memorial sign reminds everyone of what has happened at the turn of 2000 in Ukraine, as a result of indifferent people, selling their votes for nothing, having slavish kind of thinking and choosing the power that later on outrages upon their dignity. This all results in the separation of families, as well as, in tragedies and even in deaths”, emphasized the spiritual coordinator of the 7^th international pedestrian pilgrimage of migrant workers and their families. Near the future monument, Father Vasyl Potochnyak served a prayer, which was attended by all the pilgrims. Pilgrims prayed for the millions of Ukrainian citizens living abroad, and wished that they "never feel themselves as orphans while the Ukraine is free”. "There is no truth about Ukrainian migrant worker. People had no other possibility than leave due to the difficult circumstances; and nobody stays in jail for that, no one asks for forgiveness, no one cares about people coming back. The society seems to have accepted it the way it is. Some families are beating their heads against the wall. It seems that this is the norm that father and mother went abroad for the period of 5 to 10 years and could not return back to Ukraine. It would be nice if people live in their own houses and not suffer while being away; so that they go abroad to relax, to participate in any events, to represent our own country, because we are not worse than others – neither by truth, nor by history, hands and talent. I would like to thank those pilgrims, who having arrived to Ukraine for a short vacation, took part in the pilgrimage, and would pray for God to have mercy on us and on our Ukrainian people and to lead us towards the conscious life, towards the conscious choice and towards the conscious attitude to our country "- said after the prayer executive secretary of the Pastoral and Missionary Department of UGCC. The participants of the 7^th international pedestrian pilgrimage of migrant workers and their families also participated in the festival of pilgrims’ creativity, named "Get-together in Zarvanytsya". Let us recall that ten-day pilgrimage from Sambir to Zarvanytsya lasted from 3^rd to 12^th of August. The pilgrimage was organized by the Pastoral and Missionary Department of UGCC in cooperation with Charitable Fund "Caritas of Sambir-Drohobych Diocese of UGCC."

The Info Center of UGCC Pastoral and Missionary Department