An American pilgrim who walked from Warsaw more than 800 km carrying a cross on his back for 72 days arrived at the of St. Nicholas temple in Kyiv. The man’s name is Jimmy, and he says the main goal of his journey was to share hope and love with everyone he met on his way.
This was reported by credo.pro.
It is very symbolic that he decided to walk with a heavy cross along the roads of Ukraine, which has been carrying the heavy cross of war for more than a 18 months already. On Monday, November 13, 2023, Jimmy finally reached the capital, which courageously withstood Russia’s attempt to capture it in February 2022. He stopped by at the Maidan, which is known to the whole world as a symbol of freedom and the struggle for independence.
As soon as Jimmy entered Kyiv, his white tunic got partially torn. He asked himself: what kind of sign is this? After all, for 70 days, he’s been wearing it in heavy showers and storms, and never took it off. All this time, the tunic remained intact, and now the hems got torn… For Jimmy, this was a sign of the purpose of his journey with the cross, which he became very accustomed to.
According to him, when looking for a place to spend the night, the first and most important place he looked for was the cross, which symbolizes Jesus and undivided Christianity – because Jesus prayed on the cross so that everyone would be as one.
“It is clear that the cross is of great value to Jimmy because when I tried to carry it myself, I felt that it was really heavy,” says Fr. Pavlo Vyshkovsky, rector of the parish of St. Nicholas. “Jimi feels naked without that cross, as he told me.”
“Along his way, many people, including priests in up to five churches, offered me to leave my cross with them, but I wanted to carry it all the way,” says Jimmy. After visiting Independence Square, Jimmy went to the Church of St. Nicholas, and, having learned its story, decided to leave his cross here.
Seeing the current condition of the shrine, Jimmy said: “I am now in the temple of St. Nicholas. It has a big cross. I learned the history of this church: it has not been returned to the parish for its sole purpose for 33 years. I also heard that [during Soviet times] it was turned into a warehouse or something like that. I find it shameful that this building could serve as anything but a temple. Because if you look at this architecture, you will ask yourself the question: why make something else out of it? I learned that there was a fire here a few years ago. Maybe we could do something to restore the temple? It is a very beautiful shrine, and I am glad that I was invited to visit it.”
