Perspectief 2015-28

Perspectie 8 Lidiya Lozova pay special attention to social activities directed at reconciliation are being brought to life now. The parish It is an Orthodox (Moscow Patriarchate) Saint Parasceve parish in the village of Lishnya located 50 km to the west from Kyiv 2 . Father Philaret (Iegorov), the parish priest, is an Orthodox monk of 40 y.o. in the rank of archimandrite, who has served there for 15 years now. On the one hand, it is a typical village parish, i.e. the core of its parishioners consists of the natives of Lishnya, mostly elderly women. On the other hand, the composition of the parish is quite various, unlike in case of most other UOC parishes in villages: it consists not only of locals, but also of people from Kyiv (middle-class bourgeois and intelligentsia) and people from other cities and villages, who come less regularly. Those are people with quite different incomes (rich and very poor) and very different backgrounds and personal stories. What unites them, makes them interact and gathers them into a community is their faith and their love and respect to the priest. Father Philaret himself is a man of prayer with great love and kindness towards people, a missionary and a very patient hard-worker. He is not only the parish priest in three villages 3 where he celebrates liturgy every single day and helps village locals in all kinds of situations, but also the dean over 10 other parishes 4 , the press-secretary of the Makariv suffragancy 5 , a deputy of the Makariv District Deputy Council (Makariv is the center of the region) where he heads the Charitable Committee 6 , and the counselor of St Clement’s Center. Thanks to his open and very caring heart, his many charitable activities, his good relationship and cooperation with the local and regional governments, he is genuinely loved and respected by very different people, many of whom do not attend his or anyone else’s parish and are not so close to the Church. 2 The population of Lishnya (Makariv district, Kyiv oblast) is about 500 people. 3 Those are villages of Lishnya, Osykove and Mostyshche, which belong to the Makariv district. 4 It is the Byshiv deanery with the center in the village of Byshiv, Makariv district. 5 The Makariv suffragancy belongs to the Kyiv diocese. 6 He also heads the Charitable Committee of the Makariv suffragancy.