Kiev, January 22, 2019
Photo: news.church.ua His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, received several orphans yesterday to celebrate the recent Church feasts with them, reports the site of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Met. Onuphry received a group of orphans from the village of Molnitsa, who are cared for by the Holy Ascension-Bancheny Monastery, at his residence in St. Panteleimon’s Convent in Kiev yesterday, January 21. They were accompanied by the abbot of the monastery His Eminence Archbishop Longin and the sisters of the Boiany Icon of the Mother of God Monastery in the Bukovina-Chernivtsi Diocese.
Photo: news.church.ua His Beatitude festively greeted the children in honor of the feast of the Nativity of the Lord and gave them all Christmas gifts and wished them all good health and the Lord’s blessing. The children also congratulated their beloved primate and sang Christmas carols and hymns and recited poems for him.
Photo: news.church.ua There are about 200 children being taken care of at the monastery’s center. Abp. Longin (Zhar) began adopting children in the early 1990s, and in 2008 was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine for his outstanding care for orphans.
The monastery operates the treatment-rehabilitation center “Faith, Hope, and Love” at the monastery and a boarding school in the nearby village of Molnitsa.
Photo: news.church.ua The Ukrainian primate’s visits to children’s homes have become traditional for him, as he visits children who require special attention several times a year. His Beatitude visited the children at their home in April for Pascha and last January for the Feast of the Nativity.
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