Letter of condolence by His Beatitude Sviatoslav on the death of His Beatitude Volodymyr (Sabodan)

With great sadness we received the news that His Beatitude Volodymyr, Metropolitan of Kyiv rested in God. 

With the departure to eternity of the servant of God Metropolitan Volodymyr we all, Ukrainian society and all Christians, regardless of denominational implement, feel a great loss. His Beatitude Volodymyr will imprint forever in our memory as a man of deep prayer and true religious asceticism, a profound theologian and a wise pastor, the spiritual father and the moral authority of our time.

His Beatitude Volodymyr, inspired by the Holy Spirit, understood the importance and urgency of fraternal unity and seeking ways to Unity of Volodymyr's Christening Churches. In that he forestalled the present time for many years ahead and would stay the spiritual guide to his followers in the future.

In this sad moment, on behalf of all the fullness of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church we express  the brotherly compassion throughout the episcopate, clergy, religious and all the faithful of Ukrainian Orthodox Church and unite with you in prayer for the eternal rest of the deceased.

Today His Beatitude Volodymyr is standing before the throne of the Most High, and prays for His beloved Ukraine and speaks to us with the words of the Apostle Paul: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day” (II Tim. 4, 7-8).

Eternal memory to Him!

 

+Sviatoslav