This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page For a pilgrimage site known as the "Place of Disruption," the Zarvanytsia shrine in western Ukraine has lived up to its name over the centuries From the interrupted sleep in which the Virgin Mary appeared to a monk — an event that gave the place its name — to the Soviet attempt to eradicate religion The Church of the Mother of God at Zarvanytsia It's a testament to the one thing that has remained uninterrupted — the faith that has guided Ukrainians for over 1,000 years The shrine is in the Terebovlia region of the Ternopil Oblast about a three-hour drive to the southeast of Lviv through fields of dark earth that have given Ukraine the nickname "the breadbasket of Europe." John Paul II did not make it to Zarvanytsia when he visited Ukraine in 2001 but he did request that the miraculous icon from there be brought to him during his visit to the capital It was from that capital that a monk fled in the year 1240 as the invading Mongols destroyed the city Wounded and exhausted from the journey of over 300 miles the unnamed monk found a spring near the Strypa River and stopped to refresh himself but the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him in a dream he found an icon of Mary and the Christ Child in her arms The monk washed himself with the water from the spring and noticed his wounds were healed he built a chapel in which he prayed before the icon and word got out about the miraculous spring many pilgrims have been healed after prayer before the image and the consumption of the water from the well According to Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church: First steps Turks and Tatars burned down a monastery here in the 17th century The icon survived and was moved to a new wooden church built in the center of the village the Church of the Holy Trinity was built nearby A Studite monastery was established here in 1922. Its first hegumen, or abbot, was Blessed Klementiy Sheptystsky, the brother of the long-time leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky when Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union the monastery's wooden church was burned down The monastery itself was destroyed two years later The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church became illegal in 1946 but the monastery continued to function underground authorities blocked roads leading to Zarvanytsia on major holy days The miraculous spring was wrapped in barbed wire "The KGB would pour diesel into the well," Fr But local residents hid the icon (as did the monks) and held secret Divine Liturgies in their houses or in the forest Vasyl Semeniuk (who is now Metropolitan of the Ternopil-Zboriv Archeparchy) was appointed as the priest responsible for this area He was also the head of the underground seminary here "And then he went to visit Lourdes for the first time and said 'I have to build something here like that,'" Fr Indeed, Zarvanytsia has been dubbed the "Lourdes of Ukraine." when the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church emerged from the underground local residents presented the long-hidden icon to the Church of the Holy Trinity. The following year Semeniuk and other priests celebrated Divine Liturgy openly in the local church for the first time in 50 years The chapel near the spring was rebuilt and the destroyed church renovated A large chapel was erected where liturgy is served for large pilgrimages an outdoor concert stage and a large building for retreats were built The Studite monastery building was reconstructed Said His Beatitude Sviatoslav on that occasion "This is the place that the Lord Himself chose through His Immaculate Mother as the meeting place with the Ukrainian people." Articles like these are sponsored free for every Catholic through the support of generous readers just like you Please make a tax-deductible donation today Help us continue to bring the Gospel to people everywhere through uplifting Catholic news This article was published more than 2 years ago Maria Zubrycka Barabash Lewycky: Matriarch from complications following surgery; aged 88 Maria Lewycky’s mother wanted the best when she sent Maria to live with her sister Sophia (Zonia) Kowalsky and husband Dmytro Barabash in Kobylovoloky Despite returning to her family on school holidays for the rest of her life Maria felt the absence of maternal love and affection In 1944 the Soviet army reoccupied western Ukraine and Maria would not see her parents and brothers again until 1975 Maria fled with Zonia and Dmytro to Czechoslovakia They found refuge on freight trains where they found shelter but were under constant bombardment they settled in a Displaced Persons camp in Berchtesgaden an American soldier arrived at the camp searching for anyone from the Kowalsky or Barabash families “My aunt is both a Kowalsky and a Barabash!” Maria told him proudly The soldier had a letter from Zonia’s older brother in New Jersey Among the millions and millions of displaced persons all over Europe Maria landed at Pier 21 in Halifax with Zonia and Dmytro (who had by now adopted her) They continued on to Montreal where Zonia’s two younger brothers helped the new arrivals settle into work and school Maria’s friend Atia and Atia’s older cousin would you please do me the honour to be my guest?” They danced all night Maria and Nestor bought a home in Montreal and built an extension for Zonia and Dmytro as they aged Maria was the family’s leader and Nestor loved her ambition and energy They had a tight circle of friends who loved to play cards and attend the Ukrainian black-tie Malanka balls every New Year’s Eve including evenings when both parents took university classes Maria demanded her children reach for the stars It was never “if you go to university” but rather “when you complete university.” This was during the turmoil of Montreal in the 1970s and every evening included a discussion of current affairs “what makes you think that?” which meant we had to come prepared Gardening was gratification for her hard work She loved running her hands through the soil and took pleasure in every flower critical and passionate – yet those feelings of being orphaned lingered just under the surface Maria was unique among her friends – the first wife and mother to work full time the first to drive long distances between their cottage in Ste master the internet and become prolific on Facebook Professionally Maria rose to be an executive assistant and administrator she volunteered at the Ukrainian Documentation Centre in Toronto She was still driving at 88 and living independently in her Toronto condo her love was boundless – can’t be home to cook dinner for your family Maria would arrive and fill your freezer with a month’s worth of meals if I have to stop – that will be the end of me.” We believe she helps us still To submit a Lives Lived: lives@globeandmail.com Lives Lived celebrates the everyday, extraordinary, unheralded lives of Canadians who have recently passed. 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