The pilgrim Icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa is still in Portugal waiting to travel to the USA. In the meantime, the Orthodox Church of Russia in Portugal has requested to have Our Lady of Czestochowa visiting some of their communities. This was providential and shows that the Virgin Mary wants to be with all of us!
The Orthodox priest, Father Ioan Gherbovetchi, who had already welcomed the Icon in the South of Portugal, organized also a visit to other parishes in Setúbal, Sines and Cascais, from the 18th to the 21st April. Our Lady was welcomed and venerated with beautiful liturgies and prayers were offered also for the defense of Life.
On Sunday 21st April, at 10h00 the main orthodox divine liturgy was conducted at the Parish of S. John Chrysostom in Cascais, in a chapel built by the sea and which is dedicated to Our Lady of Conception of the Innocents. This chapel was sparred to the great damage of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and is the most revered of this town since then.
According to Father Gherbovetchi, about 500 people attended the celebrations and venerated the Black Madonna.
On April 23, the Icon was taken to the Romanian Orthodox Church in the very heart of Lisbon city and stayed there till the 24th where She was also venerated by this Orthodox community. This same community handed over the Icon to a pro-life association “Mãos Erguidas” whose headquarters are located in front of the most known abortion clinic in Lisbon.
Our Lady wants to continue this mission and She will be visiting some other parishes in Portugal while waiting to travel to USA.