Velehrad, South Moravia, July 5 (CTK) – About 23,000 people on Sunday took part in the National Pilgrimage, which is the culmination of the celebrations of the arrival of Christian missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius to the country.
Olomouc Archbishop Jan Graubner said people should be more ready to accept refugees and to work as volunteers in charity projects.
Graubner told CTK that the National Pilgrimage was the largest regular pilgrimage in the country and the main celebration of the national holiday of the Slavonic missionaries. He said the pilgrimage is an occasion to remember the responsibility for the legacy of our fathers and for the future of the nation.
Cardinal Dominik Duka took part in the pilgrimage, too.
As the temperatures were very hot, many pilgrims had umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun a water had to be distributed among the participants.
Duka, Graubner and other bishops visited the old Slavonic settlement in Mikulcice, south Moravia, where another pilgrimage commemorating St Cyril and St Methodius was organised.
About 2000 people gathered for the event.
The Mikulcice settlement, dating from the 8th century, was a key administration, spiritual, military and trade centre of Great Moravia.
“As the tradition is very strong in this place, it needs to be revered,” said head of the Mikulcice settlement administration, Frantisek Synek.
Bishop Vojtech Cikrle said the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius spread further from Mikulcice.
The annual Mikulcice pilgrimage was held for the 26th time this year. The first pilgrimage was organised in 1990, after the fall of the communist regime.
