SW News: As the Orthodox Easter falls on April 24 this year as per the Julian calendar, Caritas Polska has joined hands with hoteliers of the Holding of Polish Hotels to provide a sumptuous complimentary breakfast to a handpicked group of 7,000 Ukrainian Orthodox refugees across Poland. This loving gesture is to bring consolation and hope to Ukrainian Orthodox believers who will be commemorating Easter without many of their loved ones as the conflict rages in their homeland. The breakfast will be provided in hotels across Poland under the auspices of 20 different Catholic dioceses.
Speaking to Spanish Catholic news portal Religionenlibertad.com, president of the Polish Hoteliers Gheorghe Marian Cristescu said, "For many people in Ukraine, the upcoming Easter will be the first major holiday of its kind to be celebrated away from home, and often also without the closest relatives. We know it will be a very difficult time for our neighbors. With Caritas, we want to help them experience their first Orthodox Easter in Poland. We invite other representatives of our industry, hoteliers and restaurateurs, to share this festive time together. Let us show our solidarity and open our hearts to our guests."
The Polish Church is pulling out all stops to keep the momentum of humanitarian assistance to thousands of Ukrainians who cross the border every day. With 40,000 sandwiches and hundreds of liters of hot soup each day, Caritas Poland volunteers are providing solace to Ukrainians crossing the border, scripting new chapters in Christian charity.
Food is immediately distributed to the displaced folks at the frontier itself before they proceed to refugee camps. Fr Marcin Izycki, director of Caritas Polska, says many Ukrainians go to cities and towns in Poland, but a good number prefer to reside near the frontier if there are hot meals and a place to stay.
Caritas Internationalis’ Polish arm helped collect 10 million euros for refugees in the first month of conflict in Ukraine. Funds apart, Caritas Polska has so far dispatched 500 trucks of food, medicines and generators to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is one of the few autocephalous Churches in the Orthodox communion that still follows the Julian calendar.