Head of the UGCC: "The evil can be defeated by only one who believes in God"

This was stated today, on August 17, by His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church during the sermon to the faithful in the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in the first anniversary of the consecration of the cathedral.

The Primate greeted the pilgrims who came to pray, "here, in the heart of Ukraine, beg the Lord God of peace for our land, God's blessing and strength to survive in the struggle that we are having today".

"In the Word of God of Holy Gospel this Sunday we see the apostles, who experienced defeat ... Then the apostles come to the Christ, trying to understand what was their mistake. He tells them about the faith. The winner can only be a believer. Defeat the evil can only the one who believes in God. For faith – is a unity – the unity of man with his Creator" - said the Preacher.

His Beatitude Sviatoslav asks people to think about the importance of faith, through which we can defeat evil. "For the believer nothing is impossible, because in his thoughts, actions and desires he holds God and His power. And even if in this fight human power is not able to change something, through a religious person all the power of divine grace is manifested. Therefore Jesus Christ said that we can only stand out in the fight in prayer and fasting. Why? For prayer and fasting do not change God, His purposes. Prayer and fasting change those who pray and fast. Believer who stands in prayer and fasting, is refined, enlightened and united with that whom prayer is crying to. And through him God can do impossible for a man of work "- believes the High Priest.

He noted that we have come to today's pilgrimage to celebrate the first anniversary of the consecration of the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ.

"As we look at the history of its construction, especially in the last steps before the consecration last year and how we survived this difficult year after its consecration, we can say with certainty that the Lord built His church with the hands of the believers" – supposes the Head of the Church.

He noted that this temple became the core belief of good, honest people. The temple, which is probably in the most difficult moments in the history of Ukraine was home to many hungry, wounded, needy.

"We continue to stand in the temple in prayer and fasting to finally defeat this evil, struggle with which we began almost a year ago. We believe that  connected with our Lord, we will be the winners of good over evil,  the power of God over human sinfulness and infidelity",- said the Head of the Church.

The Head of the UGCC thanked all those who worked on the construction of the Cathedral.

During the Liturgy, the clergy and laity renewed the baptismal vows. At the end of the  Worship His Beatitude Sviatoslav consecrated water in the Dnipro and blessed the newly laid mosaic of St. Volodymyr and Olga at the entrance of the Cathedral.

With the head of the Church concelebrated: Bishop Borys (Gudziak), Bishop of St. Volodymyr Diocese in France, Bishop Taras (Senkiv), Bishop of Stryi Diocese, Bishop Bogdan (Dziurakh), Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, Bishop Josyph (Milian), Bishop of Kyiv Archeparchy.

UGCC Department of Information