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Yushchenko: State must give assessment to reprisals against Churches
21-07-2009
Kyiv, July 20, Interfax - Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko and his family joined on Sunday a national pilgrimage to Zarvanytsya, a large center in Ternopil region, which draws pilgrims belonging to Ukraine's Greek Catholic Church.
Yushchenko walked with the pilgrims to the place where the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Lyubomyr Huzar, conducted a solemn pontifical liturgy, the presidential press service reported.
The president greeted the pilgrims and spoke about the lofty feat of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which, he said, "was an inspiration to the nation in the grimmest of the years, and remains adherent to this mission to this day."
Yushchenko said that the year 2009 will mark 20 years since the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church broke free from the underground, "in an act foreboding the liberation of the whole of Ukraine."
"The state must give and it will definitely give a truthful assessment to the reprisals that befell the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church alongside other Ukrainian Churches," the president said.
The Ukrainian president also conveyed profound respect and gratitude to Cardinal Huzar, "who takes care of the spiritual health of the nation with all his enormous faith and wisdom, and who continues to develop traditions, laid by Metropolitan Andrew and Patriarch Joseph the Blind," he said.
A legend says that Zarvanytsya was sanctified by the Holy Virgin, who showed to a monk the place where one of the most treasured relics of the Ukrainian nation is now held. The miracle-working icon of the Holy Virgin of Zarvanytsya is one of the oldest icons in Ukraine, dated back to the 10th century. Local residents hid the icon during the years of Bolshevik reprisals against the Greek Catholic Church.
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=6231
