“We are following you, our prophet, saint and father”
In Lviv, the monument to Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky has been opened and consecrated
On the birthday of Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky a number of events were held in Lviv in order to commemorate the Archbishop (29.07.1865 – 11.01.1944). The day began with the Bishops’ Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of St. George, led by the UGCC patriarch, His Beatitude Sviatoslav. Afterwards, the monument to Andrei was opened and consecrated on St. George Square. Celebrations were delayed – the clergy and lay people, almost 20,000 of whom gathered at the square in front of the monument, had been waiting for the President Petro Poroshenko and Maryna Poroshenko to arrive. The distinguished guests were late by almost an hour.
“I am extremely grateful to Pope Francis and the Apostolic See for having taken an important step in the process of beatification of our Metropolitan in the year of the 150th anniversary of his birth, and for recognizing his virtues” said the president. “And we are today restoring the historical justice, finally opening a monument to Sheptytsky in Lviv. But the best monument to the Archbishop would be an independent Ukraine, on its course to the family of European nations.”
“Undoubtedly, we can say that the history of installing the Metropolitan’s monument in Lviv is a history of Ukrainians’ struggle for their freedom. And the strife to set up a monument to Sheptytsky was an integral part of the liberation struggle of our people for their history, their minds, church, and national identity, for the present and the better, God blessed future,” with such words Sviatoslav began a greeting speech to the lay people. The UGCC patriarch recalled that 2015 would mark 80 years since the time when a monument to Metropolitan (by Serhii Lytvynenko) first appeared in Lviv, standing in the courtyard of the National Museum for any better place could not be found. His Beatitude believes the present place for the Metropolitan’s monument to be correct for it is chosen by the people, who brought flowers and candles – just as to the place of Kobzar’s monument in Lviv.
“We see a poor, beggared monk, donning a leather belt – signifying virtue, obedience, and poverty,” said Sviatoslav. “We see Moses of Ukrainian people, descending from the St. George’s mountain, as if from the Ukrainian Sinai, but not after the 40-day-long prayer, but after an 80-year-long one of standing before God... We say today: ‘O, Metropolitan, we are following you, our prophet, saint and father.’”
