The Sunday services in the Lavra church dedicated to Venerable Agapitus of the Caves were presided over by the Sacred Archimandrite of the Kyiv Caves Monastery, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine.

At the Divine Liturgy, His Beatitude was concelebrated by Metropolitan Antony of Boryspil and Brovary, Chancellor of the UOC; Archbishop Sylvester of Bilohorod; Archbishop Lavr of Irpin; Archbishop Mark of Borodianka; as well as the brethren and visiting clergy, led by the spiritual father of the monastery, Archimandrite Antony.

At the conclusion of the service, the Sacred Archimandrite of the Lavra greeted the faithful on the Sunday and the approaching Great Fast, which begins tomorrow:

“May the Lord bless our fasting and our labours, dear brethren, our love and humility joined with repentance, that we may worthily pass through this holy season and meet the great and radiant Feast of the Resurrection of Christ! May the Lord bless our land with peace!”

— His Beatitude wished all those present.

The early monastic Divine Liturgy in the church of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Joy of All Who Sorrow” was celebrated by the overseer of the Near Caves, Archimandrite Ioann, together with the clergy of the monastery.

During the services, special petitions were offered for peace and tranquillity in our Ukrainian land, for deliverance from every enemy and adversary, and for God’s blessing upon those who receive into their homes those who have been forced to leave their own.

A particular feature of the services preparing for Holy Lent is the chanting of the hymn “By the Rivers of Babylon” during the Polyeleos, which serves to prepare the faithful spiritually for the beginning of the Fast. The penitential hymn “Open unto me the doors of repentance, O Giver of Life…” was also chanted, and it will continue to accompany us throughout the days of Great Lent.

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