Independence Day in Sambir-Drohobych eparchy celebrated with a prayer for the Ukrainian nation

On August 24, on Independence Day, faithful in all the churches of the Sambir-Drohobych Eparchy prayed for the Ukrainian state. This day was marked with the Hierarchal Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Drohobych. Speaking to faithful, Bishop Yaroslav, bishop coadjutor of the Sambir-Drohobych Eparchy, said: “Nineteen years ago we obtained a large gift from God – the independence of the Ukrainian state.” The bishop underlined that on this day Ukraine declared before the whole world that it wishes to rule itself: “The day August 24 became a day that millions of faithful sons and daughters of Ukraine dreamed about, and day that hetmans and national leaders, our convicts in the camps of the Gulag, in the harsh Siberian taiga, and in Zapolyarya dreamed about.” The way to our freedom is paved, as wrote Patriarch Joseph, “By a sea of blood and mountains of dead bodies from the Urals to Carpathians.” Consequently the hierarch called faithful to pray for peace and wisdom. “Remembering about the victims of the past, considering the difficulties of the present, foreseeing the dangers of the future, we go along with Christ, which is the road of truth and life. Because the Lord gave us a great gift – the control of our land, and we will not lose that gift for the sake of a momentary profit, dubious glory, or insincere foreign praise,” concluded the bishop. At the end of the Liturgy all jointly said prayer for the Ukrainian nation that was composed by Metropolitan Sheptytsky. This prayer with its requests to God covers the spiritual and public areas of life of the Ukrainian nation.

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