On Saturday, March 25, Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko visited the Cathedral of the Saints Apostles Peter and Paul and the Ukrainian Fraternal School named after Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi.

As part of the “Books without Borders” project, Mr. Vasyl donated books in the Ukrainian language for school-aged and younger children of immigrants. This project was introduced in Australia at the initiative of the Book Institute and the Office of First Lady Olena Zelenska, and it aimed to print books in Ukrainian for children of younger and school age. According to the Ambassador, the main idea of the project is that many children have gone abroad and, as a result, have lost access to education and books in Ukrainian. Thanks to this initiative, they could read with their parents and not forget Ukrainian. The ambassador believes that projects of this type are very important for children from the Ukrainian diaspora because they allow them to have access to modern Ukrainian language, which is very limited abroad. After all, it is much more interesting to hold a book in your hands, see the pictures and interact with the book, than to read it on the Internet. This will be a unique opportunity for school-aged children to see modern Ukrainian books.

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Bishop Mykola Bychok, Eparch of Melbourne, expressed his gratitude for such a first step in the education of Ukrainian children in Australia and for the support of the Ukrainian language and literature. The bishop noted: “Despite the fact that Ukraine and I are separated by thousands of kilometers, we have the opportunity to use the printed word. Unfortunately, books are often replaced by gadgets, so I am very pleased that today the project “Books without Borders” focuses on the book, the Ukrainian printed word, which should also occupy an important niche in our education and life. May the Lord bless that these first efforts continue! Also, for our part, as a church, we want to implement certain projects, and we already have a lot of work done, in fact, regarding spiritual literature. There are some similarities in book publishing, but most of the books have spiritual content, or the story always ends well. So, let’s work together to preserve the Ukrainian language, as well as our future and Ukraine!”

After presenting books in the Ukrainian language to students, Ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko visited the Cathedral of the Saints Apostles Peter and Paul, where he took part in the Panakhyda for the fallen soldier Dmytro Pashchuk, which was led by Bishop Mykola Bychok, with the co-service of Father Andrii Mykytyuk. Soldier Dmytro Pashchuk died for the will of Ukraine on March 12, 2023. The hero was an active member of the “Plast” scout organization, so many Plastuns came to honor his memory.