Greek Catholics In Lviv Prepare For Arrival Of Turin Shroud
Mitred-archpriests Fathers Roman Kravchyk and Petro Pankiv of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) announced at a press conference on 17 September 2002 that a copy of the Shroud of Turin from Minsk will arrive in Ukraine on 28 September and will stay in the country for one year. Fr. Kravchyk, who is the head of the organizing committee, also presented a plan of the Shroud's pilgrimage throughout Ukraine.
On 28 September 2002, the UGCC delegation will leave for Minsk, Belarus, where the seventh copy of the Shroud of Turin is preserved in the Roman Catholic Church of Sts. Simon and Helena. After a Byzantine-rite liturgy there, the copy will be brought to Lviv. Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head of the UGCC, Patriarch Gregory III, head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, bishops of the UGCC from Ukraine and neighboring countries, hierarchs of the Roman Catholic Church and the faithful will come out to greet the copy at the airport. The hierarchs of the Orthodox churches of Ukraine have also been invited to participate in the ceremony.
The shroud will be taken in procession throughout the streets of Lviv to St. George's Cathedral, where vespers will be celebrated upon its arrival.
On 29 September, Cardinal Husar and Patriarch Gregory III will celebrate a Divine Liturgy, after which the faithful will be able to venerate the copy.
It is planned that the copy of the Shroud of Turin will stay in St. George's Cathedral and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Lviv for half a year. Then it will be taken to Kyiv and Donetsk. According to the organizers, the plan of the Shroud's pilgrimage throughout Ukraine will be worked out during the year. After Ukraine, the Shroud of Turin will travel to the Baltic states.
According to Fr. Kravchyk, heads of all the major jurisdictions of Ukraine, as well as state officials, have joined the organizing committee. They are Greek Catholic Cardinal Husar, Roman Catholic Cardinal Marian Jaworski, Kyivan Orthodox Patriarch Filaret (Denysenko), Moscow Orthodox Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) and Autocephalous Orthodox Metropolitan Mefodii (Kudraikov).
Apart from the main organizing committee, working committees on financial, information and security issues were also created. Fr. Kravchyk said that the Ministry of Transportation as well as customs and security services will provide their assistance during the pilgrimage of the shroud. In addition, Cardinal Husar sent official letters to the presidents of Ukraine and Belarus, asking for the involvement and help of the state bodies in the shroud's pilgrimage. During its stay in Ukraine the copy of the Shroud of Turin will be protected by the "Titan" security service.
The organizing committee is also planning to publish various booklets and a book by Emanuela Marinelli, professor of sindonology from Italy, which will contain monographs and research works about the Shroud of Turin.
Source: press service of the head of the UGCC
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