The festive visit of the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Ante Jozic

On February 2, the feast of the Mother of God of Candlemas, the celebration of the solemn Holy Mass in the chapel of the Christian Social Center was led by the Apostolic Nuncio to the Republic of Belarus Archbishop Ante Jozic.

The chapel of the Christian Social Center of the Good Samaritan Mission in Minsk has the title of the Lord’s donation, and therefore, in this unique place of worship in the Minsk-Mogilev Archdiocese, a celebration was celebrated under this title on this day.

During the sermon, the Apostolic nuncio noted that the feast of the Lord’s donation is a very ancient holiday from the fourth century, which is solemnly celebrated not only in the Catholic Church, but also in the Anglican and Orthodox Churches.

“On the feast of the Lord’s sacrifice in the shrine, we invite you to go to a meeting with the Baby Jesus in order to recognize in him the one who is the light of the world. In today’s Liturgy, we also contemplate the Blessed Virgin Mary, an example of those who wait and obediently open their hearts to meet the Lord. The ritual of the consecration of candles, characteristic of this ancient Liturgy, resembles exactly the image of Christian life in comparison with pilgrimage, with a journey to meet Christ, the Lord and the Savior, a journey that will end only when we finally meet him in Heavenly Jerusalem. This rite of consecration of the candle is inspired by the words of Simeon: “My eyes have seen Your salvation, prepared by you before all nations, a light to illuminate the nations”. Lit candles are a strong call to the witness of the world about Christ, the light that does not set.”

On the feast of the Sacrifice of the Lord, the Catholic Church celebrates the Day of Consecrated Life. Those present congratulated and thanked the monks for their service.

The second part of the celebration was dedicated to the celebration of the 160th anniversary of the writer Maria Radevich. Researcher Pavel Karaleu told the audience about her life and work. Maria Radzevich’s name is not widely known in Belarus. At the same time, she is a well-known writer, educator and public figure. According to one version, she was born just on February 2, 1863 in the Penyuga estate (Zelvensky district). For a significant number of books and their popularity, she was sometimes called “Senkevich in a skirt”.

She is one of the initiators of the appearance of Ursulians in Polesie. The first mission of the sisters was established in the village of Gorodets (Kobrin district) in 1933. It is no coincidence that literally 7 km away is the estate of Grushevo, where Maria Radzevich lived. Thanks to the support of the writer, the Ursulian sisters in Gorodets opened a kindergarten, cutting and sewing courses for girls, a dormitory for students, organized a library subscription and a reading room, equipped a house for orphans, perfectly adjusted the work of caring for the infirm people.

The event ended with a performance by dudar Uladzimir Berberau, who told about the history of the ancient instrument of the duda and performed interesting compositions. Uladzimir Berberau is the grandson of the famous Belarusian writer Arkadz’ Kuleshou, whose birthday also falls on the beginning of February. Taking advantage of the occasion, Pavel Karaleu presented the guest with the saved mementos from Arkadz’ Kuleshov’s lost archive -letters from Valentina Arkadyevna to her father Arkadz’ Kuleshou, written in 1951. Uladzimir Berberau admitted that he did not know about the presence of these letters, thanked for saving family rarities.

Each participant of the event received a booklet about Maria Radzevich, which was specially prepared by the mission for the anniversary.

See photos from the celebration in the photo album “February 2 – the feast of the Lord’s donation”.