On December 10, a press conference was held at the Volyn Eparchial Administration on the topics: "Presentation of a new edition of the Bible" and "Celebration of Saint Nicholas in Lutsk." Presenting the new edition of the Kyiv Patriarchate to journalists, the press secretary of the eparchy, Archpriest Vitaliy Sobko, emphasized that the Bible in the new translation is the first complete Orthodox edition of the Holy Scriptures in the modern church literary Ukrainian language, which includes both canonical and non-canonical books. The priest also spoke about the titanic work of His Holiness Patriarch Filaret, who personally worked on editing and translation, considering that the existing translations of the Holy Scriptures — by Panteleimon Kulish, Metropolitan Ilarion, and Ivan Khomenko — do not meet modern norms of literary and church language, and also considering the Church's serious need for a complete translation of the Bible into Ukrainian. The translation of the New Testament — it was noted at the press conference — was carried out in the early 1970s by a theological commission under the leadership of the then still Metropolitan Filaret, was first published for the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus-Ukraine in 1988, and later republished by the Kyiv Patriarchate with minor corrections, and was included in the new edition of the Bible in unchanged form, while the translation of the Old Testament was only fragmentary, because during the translation of liturgical books, His Holiness the Patriarch translated only those parts of it that are used during Divine Services — the Psalter and individual chapters from the Pentateuch, prophetic and other books. Like the translation of the New Testament, the translation of the Old Testament books was carried out by Patriarch Filaret from the Synodal Bible — the translation of the Holy Scriptures into Russian, carried out in the second half of the 19th century by four Theological Academies and recognized by the Orthodox Church as the most authoritative. In total, the translation work was completed by the Patriarch in a record short time — five and a half months: every day he translated 10 chapters. In addition to the biblical texts, the edition also includes useful appendices: "Index of Old Testament Readings," "On the Numbering of Psalms and the Names of Books," "On Canonical and Non-Canonical Books," "Index of Gospel and Apostolic Church Readings," "Sequence of Gospel Events According to the Four Evangelists," "Monetary Units in the New Testament," "Biblical Calendar," "Map-Diagrams." The newly published Holy Scriptures, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Filaret, was received free of charge by every clergyman of the Kyiv Patriarchate. As for purchasing the new edition of the Bible in Volyn, at present it can be done only at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Lutsk and at the warehouse of the Volyn Eparchial Administration, but later this can be done in all churches of the region. The special attention to the celebration of Saint Nicholas in Lutsk — it was stated further at the press conference — is of course not accidental, since it is precisely this great hierarch who is the patron of the city. This is decisive in the desire of the Volyn Eparchial Administration of the Kyiv Patriarchate to raise the veneration of St. Nicholas in the cathedral city to a significantly higher level, not only in the Church but also at the city-wide level. The possibility of real and successful implementation of such considerations became obvious when on July 1, 2004, during the visit of the head of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Mihailo, and the head of the Orthodox Church in Italy, Metropolitan Anthony, the latter handed over to Bishop Mihail a particle of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. From now on, with each year — noted the press secretary — the Volyn Eparchial Administration will do everything possible so that the days of remembrance of the Saint in Lutsk are enriched not only by the sincere prayer of numerous faithful, but also adorned with as many useful events as possible. This year the following will take place:
December 18, Saturday: 16:45 — solemn bringing of the reliquary with a particle of the relics into the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Lutsk. 17:00 — Festive All-Night Vigil with a sung akathist to the Hierarch, veneration of the reliquary by the faithful.
December 19, Sunday: 10:00 — Divine Liturgy, performance by the choir of the Center for Christian Education of Children and Youth. 12:30 — Cross procession with the reliquary to the monument to St. Nicholas near the Lutsk City Council. 12:45 — Moleben to the Saint before his monument. 13:30 — Sung akathist to St. Nicholas in the cathedral and veneration of the reliquary by the faithful. 17:00 — Vespers with an akathist to the Hierarch.