St. Spyridon of Tremithous’ Relics Arrived to Ukraine
On Sunday, April 26, the relics of one of the most venerated saints of the Orthodox world – of the Holy Hierarch and Wonderworker Spyridon of Tremithous – arrived to Ukraine.
At the airport of Boryspil the shrine was delivered by the delegation of the Orthodox Church of Greece with Metropolitan Nectarios of Kerkira, Paxoi and Diapontioi Nisoi,accompanied in the journey by Deputy Abbot of the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Archbishop Pavel of Vyshgorod.
Bringing in of the relics of the Holy Hierarch Spyridon took place on the blessing of His Beatitude Hieronymos II of Athens and All Greece on the request of His Beatitude Metropolitan Volodymyr.
After the meeting at the airport of the capital, the relics were delivered to the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, where the shrine was met by the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church together with Archbishop Vissarion of Ovruch and Korosten, Bishops Alexander of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi, Bishop Panteleimon of Vasylkiv, synaxis of the capital and monastery clergy and God-loving flock from all the corners of our country.
Thereafter the thanks giving prayer service was performed in the square in front of the Cathedral of the Holy Dormition, following which the Archpastor greeted the guests from Greece. In his word, addressed first of all to Metropolitan Nectarios, the Primate said:
“We heartily thank you for the joy you gave us, bringing the hand of St. Spyridon today. We ask for your prayers for our nation, for our Holy Church and for the entire orthodox world, so that it praised the Resurrected Christ in peace, consent and love and inherited the eternal Pascha.”
In his answer speech, Vladyka Nectarios first of all greeted all those present by the ever-living words: “Christ is risen!” Continuing his speech, he underscored:
“My heart replenishes with joy that we have come today to Ukraine, to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and I’m very glad to meet You, Your Beatitude, with Your Archpastors, clergymen, and I’m also very glad to see you, God-Loving people. The saints of our Church are a symbol of our unity, we are the Body of Christ and the head of this body is Christ. And the Holy Hierarch Spyridon of Tremithous is not only a Greek saint, he also protects all of you, and all the Orthodox Christians, he is a common universal saint.”
Thereafter His Beatitude prayerfully bowed unto the honorable relics of St. Spyridon, following which a few hundreds of Ukrainian children with functional disabilities, orphans and the children of various creative teams, who visited that day the charity holiday “Children in Lavra”, venerated the shrine.
Finally, the clergy and faithful, carrying the reliquary with the hand of St. Spyridon of Tremithous and his iconic image, followed in the sacred procession to the territory of the Near Caves, where the shrine was brought into the Church of Exaltation of the Cross, in which it is going to stay for the next few days, and where all willing will be able to venerated it.
