KYIV. On Sunday of Veneration of the Cross His Beatitude Metropolitan Volodymyr celebrated the Divine Liturgy in Sts Anthony and Theodosius Church of Lavra

On March 7, the third Sunday of the Great Lent, called the Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross, His Beatitude Metropolitan Volodymyr celebrated the Divine Liturgy of Sts Basil the Great in the Refectory (Stst Anthony and Theodosius Church) of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

Concelebrating to him were: Deputy Abbot of the monastery Archbishop Pavel of Vyshgorod, Rector of the Kyiv Theological Schools Archbishop Anthony of Boryspil, Bishop Panteleimon of Vasylkiv and the monastery clergy.  

Addressing the faithful with the words of instruction the Archpastor spoke about the prayerful veneration of the Life-Giving Cross and bearing the life-cross by everyone willing to follow the Lord.    

"Why do we bow unto the Cross? We do that since we give honor to the One, Who performed the cause of our salvation.  In awful tortures on the Cross the Lord willed to suffer death in order to revive the entire humanity.  Before the salutary feat of Christ we were the contradictors of God, were in enmity with Him. By the death on the Cross Christ reconciled us with God, heavens and each other", said His Beatitude.   

The peculiarity of the today's divine service is that by the end of the All-Night Vigils the rite of bringing out the Cross is performed.  After the Cross is put in the special place in the middle of the Church, the clergymen and faithful prayerfully bow unto the shrine.   

photos by Maxim Shevchenko