UKRAINE-CRISIS/PEACE RALLY Lviv residents hold mass prayer for peace in eastern Ukraine

Record ID: 135743

  • Title: UKRAINE-CRISIS/PEACE RALLY Lviv residents hold mass prayer for peace in eastern Ukraine
  • Date: 19th October 2015
  • Summary: CROWD WALKING TO SQUARE PRIESTS DURING CEREMONY, PEOPLE WALKING
  • Embargoed: 3rd November 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAA4IGXHRCP1Z76RF50ZYIJWY1F
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: More than five thousands believers in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv gathered on Sunday (October 18) for a ceremony of mass prayer for peace in their country.
    In the Christian tradition, priests led large crowds in a solemn service through the streets of historical Lviv.
    Lviv resident Galyna Romaniv-Pshevrotska said she hoped for reconciliation in Ukraine.
    "We ask for peace in our country, for peace to come finally, for every mother to meet her son, that the tears of our mothers will not be shed again and for stability to come to our country," she said.
    Over 8,000 people have been killed since conflict broke out in the east of the country between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in April last year.
    "(I came) to pray, to ask God for peace because peace is very much needed in Ukraine. Only prayer will rescue us from such a situation as we have now," said one of the participants, Oleksiy Dyachyshyn.
    The ceremony was also attended by Ukrainian servicemen and future soldiers, the students of military universities. Believers made several stops near different cathedrals where they read from the New Testament.
    "It is proof that Lviv is a Christian city, a city which cares about the fate of its Ukrainian people, a city which always unites in joint prayer because you understand that you can beg only God for special gifts. And for us today the special gift is peace which we highly need," said spokesman of the Lviv Archdiocese of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Pavlo Drozdyak.
    The ceremony was also dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of Andriy Sheptytsky - head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church during the World War One and World War Two period.
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