Sophia Cathedral opened for Epifaniy to celebrate enthronement anniversary
Greeting Dumenko, ex-Met Simeon Shostatsky praised him for "the beginning of liberation" of the Kyiv Caves Lavra "from the chains of the Russian spiritual occupation".
A "divine service" for the OCU was held at the Sophia Cathedral of Kyiv to mark the fourth anniversary of Epifaniy Dumenko's enthronement. The event was attended by the exarch of the Phanar in Ukraine, Bishop Michael of Koman, reports pomisna.info.
Besides the enthronement date, Dumenko was also celebrating his 44th birthday. Congratulating him on behalf of the "fullness of Church," former Metropolitan Simeon Shostatsky praised Epifaniy for his first "services" in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. According to him, the "liturgy" on the feast of Christmas at the Dormition Cathedral "initiated the process of freeing the ancient shrine of the Ukrainian people from the chains of Russian spiritual occupation in which it had been shackled for the past several centuries."
In a response, Epiphany expressed hope that "more brothers and sisters <...> will reject the Moscow yoke".
As reported, the head of Ukrainian Greek Catholics, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, expects that St Sophia’s Cathedral and other Ukrainian shrines will be shared by “all the successors of the Kyiv Сhurch".