Head of UGCC consecrates church in Sambir, Lviv region

On October 23, 2011, Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) consecrated a Greek Catholic Church in honor of the Protection of the Holy Virgin. In the past there was a city cemetery, and in Soviet times a park. The 64-feet-tall church can hold three thousand believers. Catechism classes will be held in the basement of the church. There is also an assembly hall and parish rooms. After the consecration, the Church of the Protection of the Holy Virgin in Sambir was declared pro-cathedral. The history of the construction of the Cathedral of the Protection of the Holy Virgin is closely associated with the emergence of the UGCC from the underground. On July 2, 1989, underground UGCC priests, headed by hiermonk Mykola Kuts, and believers erected a cross here, which began the worship of the Greek Catholic community, reports the press service of Sambir-Drohobych Eparchy. At the end of 1989, a liturgical chapel was erected on this place. In 1991, Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sterniuk) blessed the construction of the Cathedral of the Protection of the Holy Virgin, because at that time the Sambir Greek Catholic congregation had no church. On April 27, 1991, Bishop Julian (Voronovskyi), who was then auxiliary bishop of Lviv Archeparchy, blessed the cornerstone of the church. On October 14, 2009, the 20th anniversary of the emergence of the UGCC from the underground was celebrated in Sambir. On this occasion the first Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Protection of the Holy Virgin, which was then in its final stages of construction, was celebrated. The Hierarchal Liturgy was led by Bishop Bohdan (Dziurakh), the secretary of the Synod of Bishops.  

UGCC Information Department