KIEV: June 5, 2017
During a Visit to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York Visits His Homeland

On June 1, 2017, His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, visited St Alexander Nevsky Stavropighial Convent in the town of Gorodney in Volhynia, Ukraine, as reported by the press service of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Metropolitan Hilarion was born in Canada, but his parents, Efrosiniya Kasyanyuk and Alexei Kapral, hailed from the town of Obenizhy (now Turiysky region in Volhynia oblast) in Volhynia guberniya. When the region was annexed to Poland, the government launched a campaign of “Polification,” forcing the populace to learn Polish, the Gregorian calendar was forced upon churches, so the Kapral fled to Canada. Metropolitan Hilarion never forgot his ancestral home, and has made several visits to the area.

In 1990, Vladyka Hilarion met his relatives for the first time, and also met Archimandrite Onouphry, Prior of Pochaev Lavra, who is now the Primate of the UOC.

This year, the First Hierarch of ROCOR participated in the 25th anniversary of the Church Council of Kharkov in Kiev.

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