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Bishop Mykola Cardinal Bychok Presided over a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in Starunia
July 30, 2026
On 29 July 2026, Mykola Cardinal Bychok presided over a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy on the Occasion of the 100th Monthly Prayer Vigil at the Pilgrimage Centre of Blessed Hieromartyr Simeon Lukach in Starunia, in the Ivano-Frankivsk region of Ukraine.
On this day, the pilgrimage centre marked a special milestone — 100 consecutive months of prayer. Since April 2018, on the twenty-ninth day of every month, Starunia, the native village of Blessed Simeon Lukach, has become a place of pilgrimage for thousands of faithful who come to pray through the intercession of the Blessed Hieromartyr for peace in Ukraine, spiritual and physical healing, and God’s blessing upon their families.
More than two thousand pilgrims participated in the jubilee prayer vigil. Joining Cardinal Mykola in prayer were Bishop Bohdan Dzyurakh, Apostolic Exarch for Ukrainians of the Byzantine Rite in Germany and Scandinavia; Bishop Andriy Khimyak, Auxiliary Bishop of the Kyiv Archeparchy and Secretary of the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church; Bishop Mykola Semenyshyn, Auxiliary Bishop of the Ivano-Frankivsk Archeparchy; as well as numerous clergy.
Before the Divine Liturgy, Cardinal Mykola led prayers for healing, asking the Lord, through the intercession of Blessed Simeon Lukach, to grant spiritual and physical healing to all those present.
In his homily, Bishop Mykola reflected on the Gospel parable of the landowner who went out at different hours of the day to hire labourers for his vineyard. The Cardinal emphasised that the figure of the landowner reveals God’s tireless love for every person. “The Lord never stops calling a person. He never says, ‘Enough.’ For Him, it is never too late,” the Cardinal stressed.
Addressing the pilgrims, the preacher noted that the one hundred prayer vigils in Starunia have become a witness to the way the Lord continually comes out to meet His people, inviting them into a deeper relationship with Him.
Cardinal Mykola also drew particular attention to the life of Blessed Hieromartyr Simeon Lukach, who responded to Christ’s invitation, “Follow Me,” with complete fidelity to God and to the Church. “A vocation is not a profession. It is an identity; it is a response to Christ’s invitation: ‘Follow Me,’” the Bishop emphasised.
At the conclusion of his homily, the Cardinal encouraged all those present not to be afraid to respond to the Lord with their personal “yes,” and to support those in whose hearts a vocation to service is being born. “Let us not be afraid to say our ‘yes’ to the Lord. Let us have the courage to give God our personal response,” urged Mykola Cardinal Bychok.
The jubilee prayer vigil concluded with a communal prayer for peace in Ukraine and the singing of the Ukrainian spiritual hymn, Bozhe Velykyi, Yedynyi (“O Great and Only God”).
