UGCC will lead an All-Church Pilgrimage to strengthen the virtue of sobriety among Ukrainian people

On May 26^th the Second All-Church Pilgrimage to Univ Uspenska Lavra, to strengthen the virtue of sobriety among Ukrainian people, On the Road towards Healing, will take place.  In this manner the UGCC Commission on Pastoral Health Care under whose aegis functions the movement For a Sober Life, attempts to gather all who are concerned and committed to overcoming in Ukraine such addictions as alcoholism, drug and gambling dependency. This pilgrimage is all-Ukrainian and in addition to people from Western Ukraine, there are also already registrants from other areas, such as Kyiv and Sumy.  This year’s Pilgrimage will be headed by Bishop Ihor Vozniak, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Lviv, informed the Commission on Pastoral Health Care of UGCC Ternopil-Zboriv Archeparchy. It is noteworthy that In Univ Lavra are buried the remains of Metropolitan Mykhailo (Levytsky), who already in 1844 sent an appeal to clergy with explicit  instructions on how to establish a sobriety community and how to record its work. The movement For a Sober Life was revived in 2006 when UGCC started to organize missions of sobriety (visits to the most isolated areas in order to meet with local administration and villagers, to hold interactive trainings in schools for adolescents, to celebrate Liturgy for the intention of healing for those dependent on alcoholism); they also initiate a Golden Book of Sobriety, and provide individual consultation to those dependent on alcohol and their families. UGCC Department of Information