During the Pilgrimage to Stradch, Blessed Volodymyr Pryima will be pronounced the Patron of UGCC Laity

On June 26, 2013 during the Pilgrimage to Stradch sacred place, located in Lviv region, region, His Beatitude Sviatoslav (Shevchuk), UGCC Head, will officially declare Blessed Martyr Volodymyr Pryima as the Patron of UGCC Laity.  Also the Head of the Church will bless the cornerstone for the building of the UGCC Lviv Archeparchy Pilgrimage Center.  This information was reported during the press conference held on June 19, 2013 in the Lviv Press Club.

Already for several years after the visit to Ukraine of Roman Pope John Paul II, the Lviv UGCC Archeparchy has celebrated the Day of the Laity, and remembers on this day the Stradch martyrs – Rev. Mykola Konrad and deacon Volodymyr Pryima,” stated Rev. Vasyl Bilash, head of UGCC Commission on Issues of Laity, noting that deacon Volodymyr Pryima was the only lay person among all the new martyrs of  UGCC.

The priest explained also the meaning of the laity in the life of the Church.  According to him, laity is God’s people and therefore they should spread the Kingdom of God on earth.  “God had planned the earth in such a way that they become God’s children, His Church.  Therefore, the laity has a mission – to bless this world which is meant to praise God,” he explained.

Rev. Ivan Koltun, pastor of the Cathedral of the Ascension of the Blessed Mother in Stradch, informed that this year for the first time the pilgrimage will be on an all-Church level.  Rev. Ivan described the program of the pilgrimage and the idea of developing and building a UGCC Lviv Archeparchy Pilgrimage Center on the territory of Stradch.  Blessed Volodymyr Pryima, according to the words of the priest, embodies all Christians who gave up their lives for the Church and for Christ.  Mr. Zenon Borovets, an active layman, a Senior Lecturer at Lviv National Polytechnic University, a catechist at the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Lviv, stated that Stradch is a unique archeological, historic, spiritual, cultural monument.  It is here that the only cave monastery in western Ukraine is located.

‘A person needs God and the highest sense of one’s life are to get to know the Creator here on earth, to learn how to listen to Him and how to interact with Him.  And God also needs people and is always waiting for them.  And such pilgrimage sacred places offer a good opportunity to discover and to establish a personal relationship between the Creator and the person.  Also the significance of Stradch for the present and future generations emerges from the martyrdoms of Rev. Mykola Konrad and the lay deacon Volodymyr Prima and lies in the recognition of the Church faithful of the unusual importance of the unity of religious persons and laity as one indivisible whole, which is Christ’s Church,” he said explaining the - historical aspect of the Pilgrimage to Stardch.

UGCC Department of Information