Four hundred copies of prayer books for blind people have been printed, an idea of the Volyn eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate, which has been realized owing to donations (over 60,000). The idea was realized by the Synod Department of Social Serving and Charity of the UOC KP “Eleos-Ukraine,” the department of charity and social serving of Volyn eparchy of UOC KP and the Volyn oblast center of the Nationwide Youth Civic Organization of Visually Handicapped “Generation of Successful Action.”
“We have made the first step which is to be continued. I mean our new idea, to create a prayer book for the blind in mp3 format,” the head of the Nationwide Volyn Center of the Generation of Successful Action for Visually Handicapped Vitalii Tkachuk.
Ostap Nesterovsky, 11-year-old resident of Lviv, a student of the sixth form of the Lviv Specialized School for Visually Handicapped Children No. 100, was invited to read a prayer from the unique prayer book at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral: that was a prayer for peace and harmony in Ukraine.
“Nine years ago, when I was working as a priest in Kherson, blind people came to me. I must say that a blind person feels the world, God, and people differently. It is impossible to deceive him or her because they feel the world with their hearts. Their prayer is a special one,” said deputy head of the Synod Department of Social Serving and Charity “Eleos-Ukraine” Father Serhii DMYTRIIEV.
According to the organizers, the prayer books will be distributed in eparchies of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church KP, depending on the demands. “People will be given access to the prayer books through our eparchial centers in the oblasts. Part of them will go to Volyn, 100 copies, because there is a very good organization that takes care of the blind. A part will go to the east of Ukraine, to Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts and to Mariupol. A part of the prayer books will be handed out in Kyiv oblast in the centers where our priests take care of visually handicapped people,” said Metropolitan of Pereiaslav-Khmelnytsky and Bila Tserkva Epiphanius. “In the future we will print more copies, according to the needs of people. The church must take care of people who have such a need. We are Christians and we must show love to people with physical peculiarities, they need our help and attention.”
