Patriarch Kirill to open home for disabled children in monastery.

CHERNOVTSY (Itar-Tass) - The Patriarch of
Moscow and All Russia Kirill who's paying his first visit to Bukovina
region in Western Ukraine will sanctify a church in a new monastery and
will open a new building for disabled children in the monastery's
orphanage.
The Ascension monastery is located 30 kilometres away from
Chernovtsy. It was founded in the Bancheny village `17 years ago. Two
years later, Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and All Ukraine sanctified the
first church in its territory. The monastery's Father Superior also
founded a children's orphanage, which is now the biggest in Ukraine.
"The orphanage used to start from the priest's own family: his own
three children and 50 adopted kids. Today, the orphanage has more than a
hundred children most of whom are invalids. Father Lovgin was awarded the
title of the Hero of Ukraine for his self-sacrifice and selfless devotion
to his cause," Vasily Anisimov, the press service chief of the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church, told Itar-Tass.
According to statistics, Ukrainians make up about 70 percent of
Bukovina's population. Approximately 20 percent are ethnic Russians and
about five percent are Romanians. Representatives of other nationalities
and ethnic groups also live in Bukovina region.
Most people in Bukovina are firm Orthodox believers.
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia was given a warm welcome in
Chernovtsy on Saturday. Posters greeting the head of the Russian Orthodox
Church were put up all over the city. The path to the main cathedral was
covered with live flowers.
The patriarch thanked the residents of Bukovina for their loyalty and
devotion to the Orthodox faith.
"It's hard to imagine through how many varieties of fortune Bukovina
had to go throughout its history, to how many principalities and empires
it used to belong and how much blood was spilled on this blessed land. But
faith continues its pilgrimage on the paths of human history attracting
new souls and bestowing the force of God's grace," Patriarch Kirill said
at a midnight service in the cathedral.
The patriarch thanked the parishioners for their devotion to the
Orthodox faith, for their love for the God and also the patience, courage
and joy with which they filled Orthodox churches.
Patriarch Kirill noted that Bukovina was a multi-ethnic region. "From
the depth of my heart I would like to wish you, my dear brother and
sisters, inward peace, love for your fellow creatures, close and distant,
an ability to maintain good relations with those who surrounds you because
the true ability of people to preserve their homeland is based on kind
attitude to fellow beings," the patriarch said.
Friendly and kind attitude to the Moscow guests could be felt
everywhere. People in the streets of Chernovtsy willingly showed the road
and wished to personally accompany them to a place they needed even if
they spoke only Ukrainian.