When St. John Paul II visited Ukraine in 2001, he began his apostolic pilgrimage with a prayer to Our Lady of Zarvaniza, asking for her intercession over all of Ukraine.
He prayed the prayer at the Greek-Catholic Church of St. Nicholas in Kyiv, asking for the icon to be brought there for the occasion.
Here is the prayer in which he invoked Our Lady’s help in covering Ukraine in her mantle.
O Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Zarvaniza,
I thank you for the gift of my visit to the Kyivan Rus’
from where the light of the Gospel spread through this whole region.Here before your miraculous icon,
kept in this church of Saint Nicholas,
I entrust to you, Mother of God and Mother of the Church,
my apostolic journey to Ukraine.Holy Mother of God,
spread your maternal mantle over all Christians
and over all people of good will
who live in this great nation.Lead them to your Son, Jesus,
who is for everyone the way, the truth and the life.
And today we celebrate...