On January 14, the Natkhnenni (Inspired) student choir, the Misericordia quintet, and members of the DoBro Volunteer Organization performed carols in the Student Church of the Blessed Martyr Oleksii Zarytskyi.
The Natkhnenni student choir, which has been performing at the Sunday liturgies in the church since 2021, started a joint Christmas caroling. The church was created by Fr. Yurii Ostapiuk, head of the Center for Student Chaplaincy and chaplain of Lviv Polytechnic National University, and musician Matvii Melnyk, who became the director of the choir.
Then it was the turn of the DoBro Volunteer Organization with their Christmas story, with which they visited local residents and UGCC parishes in the East of Ukraine at Christmas. It is a community of active young people whose main goal is educational work with children and youth in the East and the de-occupied territories of the North of Ukraine.
– Our strength is in our traditions! Therefore, the joint Christmas carol is our good annual tradition, in which we unite to glorify the newborn Christ! And after the Christmas carol, we have an opportunity to treat ourselves, chat and spend time together, – said Olha Lytvynenko, head of the DoBro Volunteer Organization.
The Misericordia student quintet performed their Christmas caroling at the end. The band fascinated with its singing – and to the accompaniment of a lyre and a rainstick, all the parishioners of the church loudly caroled together. The quintet is well known to the Polytechnicians primarily for accompanying student chaplains when they visit our university with the Jordan blessing. Among the quintet members there is Roman Medvid, a graduate of the Institute of Economics and Management, Lviv Polytechnic.
– The Christmas carol in student churches is a traditional event for us. Every year, we try to gather together to sing Christmas carols: students and pupils, their bands, parishioners and student chaplaincy, residents of the surrounding dormitories, teachers and employees of the campus and the university. The preparation for Christmas, and especially for the Christmas trip to the East, unites all us. The young people have significant support from the parishioners of the church, and in this Christmas carol they thank the community for their help, as well as share the joy of Christmas and what they experienced during the trip. They show the same performance that took place a few weeks ago for the defenders and residents of the Eastern Ukraine. And all this is enhanced by the incredible carols of the choir, who always tries to add its own special flavours and novelties to the familiar songs. Misericordia quintet usually performs old carols and songs to musical instruments – this is their specialty and originality. The Christmas carol in the student church is a very warm and joyful event, and we, the student chaplains, always try to organize it so that everyone feels at home and can truly experience Christmas, emphasized at the Student Chaplaincy Center.
Therefore, we wish Polytechnicians inexhaustible energy to create good. Let our families be the place of peace, harmony, love and ringing carols!
