His Beatitude blesses a return visit of children of Western Ukraine to East

Metropolitan Onuphry at a meeting with children of the frontline zone. Photo: UOC

The Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, approved the continuation of the action “Christmas. People instead of war. Children of Donbas”, in which children from Western Ukraine will go on a pilgrimage trip to the peaceful Donbas, “Foma in Ukraine” publication reports.

Communication between representatives of different regions among themselves can be a means to achieving peace, the organizers of the action believe. According the main organizer Sergey Sivokho, Advisor to the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on reintegration and restoration of Donbas, the rest of children from the "red zone" in the capital and Pochaev is just the beginning of a large peacekeeping initiative.

Another organizer of the action, rock musician Oleg Karamazov, noted that “Today we are already talking about the fact that children from Western Ukraine and from Kiev, who interacted with children from the East, will pay a return visit in the very near future, hopefully, to the peaceful Donbas." According to him, famous athletes and artists may also go with the children.

“This interpenetration will be the basis for normal relations within the country,” Sergei Sivokho emphasized.

The Primate of the UOC also approved the continuation of the action: “To send a group of children from Western Ukraine to the East so that they can see how people live there – I think, this will be reasonable and useful. Moreover, this will enrich all of us – those who live here, those who live in the West, and who live in the East – because communication always benefits a person. When communicating, a person knows more than he can read in books, in the media or on the Internet. Just by looking into each other’s eyes, we understand more than we can find by reading from some source or hearing from someone.”

As reported by the UOJ, on January 6, 2020, the charity event “Christmas. People instead of war. Children of Donbas”, as part of which children of Donbas visited the Pochaev Lavra and the shrines of Kiev.

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