www.kyrios.org.ua [
kyrios.org.ua]
This Ukrainian language site has a report that former Ukrainian President Kravchuk has publicly repented of his being part of the communist regime that repressed the UGCC (especially in the 50's and 60's).
As if to make amends, he is now intimately linked to the UGCC Shrine of Our Lady of Zarvanytsia (a major Marian shrine) and is working on getting business capital together to build pilgrim infrastructure there.
One bishop I know said that he saw 150,000 + pilgrims to Zarvanytsia (which had no hotels etc.) come out of the woods where they camped for the nights they were there.
In 1963, the Church where the miraculous icon of Our Lady of Zarvanytsia was enshrined was dynamited by communist bandits.
In the morning, the building was in shambles, but the icon was undamaged, standing upright on one of the stones of the destroyed church. The shrine has been rebuilt and is visited by thousands yearly who go there to venerate the icon and drink the holy water of Zarvanytsia.
I have a written icon of Our Lady of Zarvanytsia from there which I inherited from my grandmother, Presbytera Irene.
Alex
