President joins Orthodox Pilgrimage
President Komorowski with Archbishop Sawa; photo – PAP/Artur Reszko
19.08.2011
The Polish Orthodox Church
President Komorowski has joined several thousand Orthodox Church believers taking part in the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, which is celebrated every August at the Holy Mountain of Grabarka, Podlaskie province in the east of Poland.
The majority of the pilgrims arrived at Grabarka by foot, some of them bearing traditional wooden crosses.
The August feast is one of the major events of the Orthodox Church, while the Holy Mount of Grabarka, considered a place of wonders and revelations, is sometimes referred to as the Orthodox Christian’s Czestochowa, Roman Catholic Poland’s holiest city.
The ceremonies today are being celebrated by the authorities of the Orthodox Church in Poland led by Archbishop Sawa.
The Polish head of state Bronislaw Komorowski, present at the celebrations, underlined that those of the Catholic and Orthodox faith should look for issues that unite and not divide them.
Speaking at the sanctuary at Grabarka, Komorowski said that that today’s world is suffering from a crisis of values.
The president underlined that the Orthodox Church is part of Poland’s past and future and recalled the words of the late Pope John Paul II, who said that Europe has to breathe with both lungs – of Christianity of both the east and west. (ab/pg)
Source:
