Video-message of His Beatitude Sviatoslav. July 21. 148 th day of the war

Today is Thursday 21 July 2022 and the Ukrainian people have been standing and defending their homeland, their land, from the unjust Russian attacker who brings death and destruction to our homeland, in an unequal duel for 148 days.

During the last day, the last night, unfortunately, the Ukrainian land shuddered again under the bombs, rockets, and strikes of the Russian army. Two of the largest cities of Ukraine have once again become the epicentres of Russian shelling. These are Kharkiv in the east and Mykolayiv in the south.

That night, Mykolayiv was hit by a massive rocket attack. And yesterday we were really shaken by the unprecedented calamity in Kharkiv, in particular the scenes of a father who knelt on the street of a big city and held the hand of his lifeless 13-year-old son and prayed.

Many people have asked themselves: God, why? How much more? O God, save your children!

Also in these days, in particular, in the south of our homeland, the harvest is taking place. And yesterday another tragedy happened in the wheat fields of Ukraine. A Russian tank shot Ukrainian harvesters who were gathering grain for bread to feed the hungry.

But Ukraine is standing. Ukraine is fighting. Ukraine is praying. Ukraine amazes the world.

And you and I are learning to overcome, to overcome evil with good. And the strength of a Christian in this battle with the devil is prayer. So today we continue our journey through these wondrous gardens of the fruits of Christian prayer. We mentioned yesterday how important it is to properly prepare ourselves, even before we begin our personal communication with God.
Today, let us answer the question "When, where, and how much to pray?". The Apostle Paul himself already gives the answer to this question, when he says: "Pray without ceasing..." There are no such circumstances or places where it would not really be possible to pray.

We must direct our attention to the Lord God throughout our lives, every day of our lives. And Christians, from the early ages of Christianity, realized that when we pray, we sanctify the space and time in which we find ourselves.

Here, for example, during the war, we learned to distinguish various types of sounds of explosions and shelling. We already know what weapons were used to shoot at us. When the earth shakes, it is artillery at work. Something similar happens when we pray. Christian prayer permeates and changes time and space around us. That is why Paul says: "Pray without ceasing..." May our living communication with God never stop, just as we never stop breathing.

But there are certain moments, in particular during our working day when it is especially worthwhile to devote time to prayer. This is always morning and evening prayer. We must begin our day by turning our thoughts to God. The first thought that must be directed to the Lord God, let it be directed as soon as we wake up. Let it be a thought, a prayer of thanks that the Lord God gives us another day, a chance, an opportunity to live and to serve God and people. Also, when we finish the working day, when we go to sleep, we must give thanks for the day we lived, examine it, apologize for our weaknesses and sins, and give thanks for all the gifts we received and the good we could do.

You should always pray at the beginning and at the end of any work. In addition, when we eat, when we study, whether at school or university. We begin our work and finish it with prayer, then the work itself turns into daily prayer. Therefore, let's not be afraid to sanctify and transform the place, the world, and the country where we are through our prayer by the power of the grace of the Holy Spirit, even when there is a war going on there.

O God, bless Ukraine. O God, bless the children of Ukraine. Bless the Ukrainian army, to whom we owe the opportunity to live and see the light of day today. O God, bless our farmers; our special prayer is for them, who today in the fields of Ukraine are fighting for the harvest, the bread of the harvest, so that the hungry can be fed. O God, bless the long-suffering Ukrainian people.

May the blessing of the Lord be upon you through His grace and love of mankind, always, now and ever, and for ages of ages. Amen. 

Glory to Jesus Christ!