Salisbury church hosting Ukrainian harvest festival service
Refugees living in South Wiltshire are encouraged to attend
A special church service is being held in Salisbury this weekend (Saturday 20th August), held in both Ukrainian and English.
The Eucharist and Harvest Festival is being marked by refugees who have settled here, and their host families.
It's being held at Salisbury's Methodist Church on St Edmunds Church Street, led by Father Bohdan Matwijczuk of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
Salisbury Community Hub for Ukraine organiser Jane Ebel said:
“We are so pleased that Fr Bohdan is willing to come back to provide spiritual support to the many Ukrainians now living in Salisbury. To be able to celebrate their faith together in their own language was clearly important to the faithful. We hope that many more people from the wider area can hear about this service and will take the opportunity to attend. All are welcome.”
This follows a similar, successful, service in July, to help welcome Ukrainians into the city.
This weekend, there will be an opportunity for confession from 10.30am on Saturday 20th August, with the service starting at 11.00am.
The event is expected to finish at about 1.00pm.
The congregation is also invited to bring fruit and vegetables, home-grown or otherwise, to be blessed as part of the harvest festival celebrations.
Salisbury's Reeve the Baker have offered bread to be blessed and for it to be distributed afterwards.