From the Head of the UGCC on the 107th day of the war: “We thank all volunteers for their testimony of faith”

“The epicenter of hostilities in recent days has been our Luhansk region, Lysychansk and Severodonetsk. It seems that the enemy has thrown all brute force on those unfortunate towns and villages, where many civilians still remain. Those who are defending Ukraine in this area today, our servicemen, sons and daughters of Ukraine, as well as the local civilian population, need our special prayers. Moreover, the enemy is constantly bombing, shelling every town and village, which his murderous hand can reach. The border villages in Chernihiv and Sumy regions are under fire. The city of Kharkiv was shelled again last night. Fierce battles are also taking place in the south of our homeland, in the Mykolaiv region, in Kherson and in Dnipropetrovsk regions, and in Zaporizhia”, stated the Head of the UGCC.

According to him, Ukraine stands and fights precisely because all the people of Ukraine, regardless of what Church they attend, what nationality they belong to, what language they speak – understand that it is their life or death. A Ukrainian state means life, and that everyone stood up today to defend their homeland.

His Beatitude Sviatoslav recalled that today the Church is experiencing the eighth day of the Missionary Decade.

“Today we draw our spiritual attention to the part of the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus Christ, in which He prays to the Father for unity among his disciples and prays for those who believe through the preaching of the apostles, through the preaching of the Church,” mentioned the Archbishop.

Thus, on the one hand, says the Head of the UGCC, we see that in order for the preaching of the Church to be fruitful and credible today, we need to pray and work for the unity of Christians, for the unity of Christ's Church. For this unity makes the missionary work of the Church in our time credible and fruitful.

On the other hand, the Primate adds, Jesus Christ himself sees with his Divine glance all those in whom the Holy Spirit arouses the gift of faith, to whom he gives this gift to receive the Word of God through the mission of the Church. And then there is such a mystical moment of meeting with the one who waits in faith for the proclamation of the Word of God, and the one who carries this Word of God. The meeting of the preacher and the one who expects the homily is a special gift, a moment of grace of the Holy Spirit.

“Today, when Ukraine is experiencing war, all Churches and religious organizations in Ukraine are more united than ever. Because we all give any internal differences to a common cause, a task to defend our land, to support our suffering people. All those who consider themselves Christians, regardless of their denomination, feel the call of conscience that is inspired by the grace of the Holy Spirit to love their land, their people and do good,” said the Father and Head of the UGCC.

Especially, the Primate asked today to pray for medical workers, doctors, in particular those who save the lives of our soldiers, our defenders. And also for our military chaplains, who are next to our army on the front line and testify to God's presence exactly where, according to him, the sons and daughters of Ukraine need God's power the most.

“O 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, and in unity the strength of the people, give us this unity and blessings of those who preach the Word of God, the Gospel of Christ, do the missionary work of the Church and give birth to new Christians by example of your dedicated Christian ministry! O God, bless Ukraine with Your peace and give her victory!” asks the spiritual leaders of Ukrainians.

The UGCC Department for Information