Sarepta 2009

From July 27 to August 2, a Christian camp for youth, Sarepta, took place in the city of Yaremche (Dora). The commission for youth of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church organized the camp. The purpose was to bring together young people from different eparchies and exarchates of our Church, to give them the opportunity to pray together, to communicate, to discuss important subjects and, of course, to relax. The main themes of the camp included “Divine Calling” and “The 20th anniversary of the UGCC’s coming out from the underground.” Representatives from Lviv and Kyivan archeparchies, Stryj, Sambir-Drohobych, Ternopil'-Zboriv, Ivano-Frankivs’k and Kolomyja-Chernivtsi eparchies, and also Odessa-Crimean exarchate took part in the camp. "The program of the camp was extraordinarily full. The best kind of rest is active rest. Therefore, the youth participated in different programs, right up until the concluding presentation of the eparchy. Participants of the camp were able to not only enjoy their surrounding but also to deepen their knowledge and understanding about parenthood, pre-marital relations, abortion and bad habits/dependencies,” explained Fr. Rostyslav Pendyuk, Head of commission of youth of the UGCC. During the feast for St. Volodymyr, the youth proceeded to renew their baptism vows, which left a deep impression in their hearts. During the Sarepta camp, a lecture was given by vice-rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University, Myroslav Marinovych, on the topic of the Church while it was underground. On the eve of the feast of prophet Elias, Bishop Joseph (Milyan) visited the camp. Bishop Joseph had originally inspired the idea for such a camp a long time ago. The bishop was heavily involved with youth organizations and arranged for annual summer camps. He was one of the founders of “Sarepta.” All the campers took part in evening prayers in the church of prophet Elias, where the Hierarchical Liturgy, led by Bishop Joseph, also took place.  The camp was actively supported by the Ivano-Frankivs’k regional state administration as well as with the assistance of Yaremcha city council.

Press-service for the youth commission of the UGCC