Video-message of His Beatitude Sviatoslav. June 10. 107 th day of the war

The epicenter of hostilities in recent days has been our regions of Luhansk, Lysychansk, Severodonetsk. And the feeling is that the enemy has really thrown all its infernal force on these towns, unfortunate villages, where there are still many civilians. And it is those who are defending Ukraine today, our military, our soldiers, the sons and daughters of Ukraine, as well as the local civilian population who need our fervent prayers. Moreover, the enemy is constantly shelling, firing in different ways at every town and village that his murderous hand can reach. The border villages of Chernihiv and Sumy regions are shelled. The city of Kharkiv was shelled again last night. Fierce battles are also going on in the south of our homeland, in the Mykolaiv region, in the Kherson region and in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and in Zaporizhia.

But Ukraine stands firm. Ukraine is fighting. Because everyone in Ukraine, no matter what church they attend, what nationality they belong to, what language they speak - understands that this is their life or death.

A Ukrainian state means life, and everyone stood up today to defend their homeland.

Today is the 8th day of the decade of missionary work. Step by step, day by day, we are approaching this mystical encounter with the Third Person of the Holy Trinity - the Holy Spirit. And each day of this decade has its own Gospel theme, its own Word of God, and therefore a particular call to work and pray. Today we turn our spiritual attention to a part of the prayer of Jesus Christ, when He prays to the Father for the unity of His disciples, and also prays for those who believe through the preaching of the apostles, through the preaching of the Church. Christ says: "Father, keep them so that they may be one, as we are one. May the world believe that you have sent me."

So, on the one hand, we see that for the preaching of the church to be fruitful today, to be authentic, we need to pray to work for the unity of Christians, for the unity of Christ's Church. For this unity makes missionary work fruitful. 

On the other hand, Jesus Christ Himself sees with His divine gaze all those in whom the Holy Spirit arouses the gift of faith; to whom He gives this gift of receiving the Word of God through the mission of the church. And then there is such a mystical moment of encounter between the one who waits in faith for the proclamation of the Word of God and the one who carries this Word of God. But the meeting of the preacher and the one who awaits the good news is a special gift, a moment of grace from the Holy Spirit.

Today, while Ukraine is going through a war, all churches and religious organizations in Ukraine feel more united than ever. Because we are all subject to all kinds of internal differences, we unite around a common cause, a common task, a common good to defend our land, to support our suffering people. Whoever considers himself a Christian today, whatever denomination he belongs to, feels the call of conscience inspired by the grace of the Holy Spirit to love his land, his people and to do good.

Today, we want to pray especially for all those who do charitable works and preach the Word of God through their actions. Today, we want to pray especially for and thank all our volunteers for their testimony of faith. For a volunteer is a person who does get paid for his or her ministry, who does not wait for orders from his or her superior to work and act, but responds to the call of his or her own ministry. A volunteer, a true volunteer is always honest and just, because he does not work for his own benefit, but serves those who need it most.

Today, we want to pray especially for our health care workers, the doctors, especially the military doctors, who save the lives of our soldiers, our defenders. We want to pray for our military chaplains, who today stand with our army on the front lines. And they are witnessing God's presence exactly where the sons and daughters of Ukraine need God's power the most.

Holy Spirit, come, unite us all, heal the wounds of our church divisions and dissensions. You are the Spirit of the Unity of the Church, give us this unity. You are the Spirit of the Unity of the people, in unity lies the strength of the people, Holy Spirit, give us this unity. And bless all those who preach the Word of God, the Gospel of Christ, who carry out the missionary work of the Church and give birth to new Christians by the example of their dedicated Christian service. O God, bless Ukraine with Your peace and give her victory!

May the blessing of the Lord be upon you with His grace and love for humanity forever and ever. Amen

Glory to Our Lord Jesus Christ!

+ Sviatoslav