Over 800, 000 hryvnias was raised in support of UGCC seminarians during Christmas Prosphora charity event in Lviv
Dozens of benefactors and alumni of Lviv Seminary of the Holy Spirit visited the 5th anniversary charity banquet "Christmas Prosphora", which took place on January 9 at the seminary. During the event more than 800,000 hryvnias was raised in support of UGCC seminarians.
Among the guests of the "Christmas Prosphora" were Bishop Ihor Vozniak, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Lviv, Bishop Volodymyr Hrutsa, Bishop-auxiliary of Lviv Archdiocese, Bishop Benedict Aleksiychuk, valid Bishop of Bishop of St. Nicholas Eparchy in Chicago and the initiator of the event.
Bishop Benedict recalled how four years ago, as he was preparing to celebrate his 50th birthday anniversary, he came up with an idea to offer guests to bring gifts such as scholarships for seminarians.
“A lot of people responded then. Four years ago, we raised more than a million hryvnias for these scholarships. This campaign inspired us to hold similar events every year on Christmas,” said Bishop Benedict, the initiator of the "Christmas Prosphora" in Lviv.
The bishop noted that it is important for him to invest resources and funds in seminarians as it is a necessary thing if the Church wants to have good priests.
For five years there have been philanthropists who support seminary brothers from year to year. And it has even become a tradition that "Christmas Prosphora", apart from benefactors, is also attended by students themselves.
"Christmas Prosphora" takes place once a year and during the event we raise funds for the next year. But within the framework of the scholarship program, which operates under the auspices of the Foundation of Spiritual Revival, we organize various meetings between students and benefactors throughout the year. Communication between the benefactor and the seminarian brother is important to us”, said Olena Karnaukh, the director of CO.
The highlight of this year's event was that for the first time the benefactors of scholarships were alumni of Lviv Holy Spirit Seminary, who had been studying there since the UGCC came out of the underground and now serve both in Ukraine and abroad.
The UGCC Department for Information
