Patriarch Sviatoslav shares his first Christmas Prosphora with faithful

This year’s Christmas Prosphora in the Ukrainian Greek Catholics was somewhat unique for it was attended by two patriarchs – His Beatitude Lubomyr Husar and His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk. The event, which for several years the UGCC has held in Kyiv, was like another Christmas, but in Kyiv. It is always a great opportunity to meet with the large Greek Catholic family in the capital of Ukraine and feel how with each passing year the community grows stronger. Patriarch Sviatoslav, the primate of the UGCC, spoke to the guests. “We are gathered here today to share this blessed bread, which we call prosphora. Bread is the symbol of God’s incarnate – our Creator and Savior, who was incarnated in the human body to be present here among us. And so, as like this bread, which is distributed into many parts, to join everyone together and fill their lives, today’s prosphora, on the one hand, shows the closeness of God to us, on the other, gives us the opportunity to be together, to be one. It gives us the opportunity to greet each other and share the joy that we are now experiencing. I want to thank everyone who came to this family Prosphora to share this common bread,” he said to the guests. “Brothers and sisters” from different parts of Ukraine, and even from abroad came to the Christmas Prosphora. In particular, it was attended by the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine Archbishop Thomas Edward Gullickson, Archbishop of Lviv Ihor Voznyak, Secretary of the Synod of Bishops Bishop Bohdan Dziurakh, Auxiliary Bishop of Kyiv Archdiocese Bishop Josyph Milian, numerous clergy, politicians Taras Chornovil, Ivan Vasniuk, Hanna Herman, Arseniy Yatseniuk, Anatoliy Matvienko and other artists, scholars, parishioners from churches of Kyiv and the oblast, many donors of the construction of the Patriarchal Center of the UGCC in Kyiv. After thanking all those present, especially those who have supported the construction of the Patriarchal Cathedral in Kyiv, Patriarch Sviatoslav invited everyone to pray. Afterwards, he went greeted the guests individually. His Beatitude Lubomyr, in turn, greeted everyone: “This celebration, which is called Prosphora, began several years. We wanted a way to be able to show our gratitude to all people who help us build this cathedral with their donations. And so we thought at Christmas time to invite all the benefactors from all over Ukraine and even abroad to came together so we could Christmas carol and so they could see the progress of the construction.” Then, His Beatitude told a story that would encourage donors to donate funds for the cathedral. After that, His Beatitude Lubomyr greeted His Beatitude Sviatoslav on the holiday. Then the His Beatitude Lubomyr left the Prosphora and the guests continued to carol.  

UGCC Information Department

  News coverage about the celebration on ICTV