Video-message of His Beatitude Sviatoslav. June 11. 108 th day of the war

Today is Saturday 11 June 2022 and Ukraine is already experiencing 108 days of a great and bloody war waged by the Russian aggressor against the Ukrainian people.

 

We thank the Lord God and the Armed Forces of Ukraine for having survived until this morning and that we can see the light of day, that we can see the sun. Luhansk region remains the epicentre of major clashes, as well as the city of Sievierodonetsk and that part of our Luhansk region which is now controlled by the Ukrainian army. In the war zone and in the occupied territories, the civilian population is experiencing truly severe abuse, tragic times, about which we do not know everything, but the echoes that reach us force the Christian conscience to be moved and to call on the whole world to save these people, to immediately stop the aggressor and stop this unjust war.

 

Our border regions with Russia, the Sumy Region, the Kharkiv Region, and the Chernihiv Region, were again shelled from the Russian side with various weapons. Heavy battles are also being fought in the south of our homeland, in the Kherson region, in the south of the Dnipropetrovsk region, and the Zaporizhzhia region. Indeed, we look at the courage, strength, and bravery of young men who are 18 and 19 years old, but who sacrifice themselves for their homeland to save us from the bloodthirsty enemy.

 

Today we especially want to thank all those who pray and support Ukraine in this difficult time. It is said that a true comrade, a true friend is known in times of trouble. And so, when our homeland suffered this disaster of war, we feel every word of support, we feel every friendly gesture of all people of good will from around the world who help Ukraine to be victorious and to bring this day of victory over evil closer.

 

Today, this Saturday, we are also experiencing the ninth day of the Decade of Mission. Tomorrow, according to the Julian calendar, we will celebrate the day of Pentecost, the Descent of the Holy Spirit. And the Decade of Mission is precisely that time of prayer for the fruitfulness of the Church in her preaching of the Gospel of Christ to the modern person. And we see and feel that modern man is most wounded in the ability to create human relationships. In particular, the closure brought on by the pandemic and other elements of modern culture sometimes make a person extremely lonely. We can be connected online with the whole world, but in reality, we do not have deep, real, full-blooded human relationships. And today, we await the Holy Spirit as the teacher of true, deep relationships between people. Moreover, He is the doctor of the human person's ability to communicate, to create unity with another person.

 

Today, the Holy Gospel that we hear, that we read, that is a spiritual nourishment for us today, tells us about the conversation between the risen Christ and the Apostle Peter, the chief Apostle, who denied his teacher three times during His sufferings. And so the risen Christ asks His disciple three times: "Peter, Peter, do you love me?" Interestingly, at first Peter may not have fully understood what the teacher is asking him. Because in answering "Yes, Master, you know, I love You", Peter rather speaks of friendship, he speaks to the preferences that exist between ordinary friends. But Christ speaks of love, the love with which God loves man. Not about friendship, but about sacrificial love, which leads to self-sacrifice, but gives life.

 

Then, for the third time, Christ asks, "Peter, Peter, do you love me?" But he begins to use the same language that Peter speaks to Him. That is, it is as if Christ is reduced to Peter's ability to love, to the level of his relationship of love. It is in order to then raise him to the height, to the ability of divine love. And He ends His conversation with a prophecy about how Peter will lay down his life for Christ.

 

Today we so desperately need the teacher of love, who is the Holy Spirit. Because sometimes we can talk to each other in the same language but not understand one another. But he who loves understands everything and understands without words. How difficult it is for Ukraine today to explain to the world what hurts it. How difficult it is to explain the whole tragedy caused by the Russian aggressor to our homeland. How sometimes those people who do not love Ukraine do not understand all of us. And today we want to thank all those who know how to love, who speak the language of the love of the Holy Spirit. And so they feel the pain and suffering of Ukraine without words.

 

On this day we also pray for our dead. Today is the day of Universal Commemoration of the Dead. Because our Christian love is stronger than death, our Christian love embraces the life of God, even those who have entered eternity.

 

Today we pray for all those who gave their lives for our homeland, for our soldiers, for those who have given their lives so that you and I can live and rejoice today in common prayer and common reflection on the Word of God.

 

O God, bless Ukraine! O Holy Spirit, Spirit of God's love, come down upon all of us, come and teach us to love all! Teach modern humanity to speak the language of love, and then, speaking in different languages, that humanity will understand each other and will be able to create a single unity in Your Holy Church of Christ. O Holy Spirit, embrace all our dead and grant them eternal life!

 

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

 

Glory to Jesus Christ!

+ Sviatoslav