POLICEMEN CHECK WORSHIPPERS DURING SERVICE IN ZARVANYTSYA, 2000-07-23 (photo)

Elderly believers and small children hold an Icon of the Virgin Mary next to Ukrainian policemen controlling a crowd of worshippers during a service in the small west Ukrainian town of Zarvanytsya, July 23, 2000. Up to 500,000 Greek-Catholic piligrims from across Ukraine gathered in Zarvanytsya for a religious service to mark the appearance of the Virgin Mary to a monk that took place there in 1240. Organizers said this year's service had attracted the record number of piligrims, a sign of the emergence of religion in Ukraine after years of forced Soviet atheism and official repression of the Greek Catholic church. YK/WAW