We ask the Holy Spirit for the gift of knowledge to feel the archangel Michael who is fighting evil alongside the Ukrainians, - from the Head of the UGCC on 115th day of the war

His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the UGCC spoke about in his daily address on June 18, the 115th day of the war.

The Primate informed that fierce fights took place on the whole front line, from the Kharkiv region in the north to the Kherson region, the Mykolayiv region in the south. Reportedly, the fiercest fighting is taking place in the Luhansk region, the enemy is trying to attack Sloviansk, Bakhmut, and the already known city of Sievierodonetsk, which is again the center of the biggest battles that are already taking place in the city itself.

Although some towns and villages are far from the front line, adds the Head of the Church, there is no safe place in Ukraine. “Again yesterday the city of Kremenchuk in Poltava region was brutally fired at with eight rockets. The enemy is trying to methodically destroy all of Ukraine's infrastructure so that Ukraine cannot spend the next winter with dignity, to destroy Ukraine's ability to feed and warm its children in the winter. But Ukraine is standing! Ukraine is fighting and praying,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav said, adding that we thank the Lord for surviving this morning. We thank the Armed Forces of Ukraine for being able to see the light, the rays of the morning sun rising over Kyiv.

In his video address, the Head of the Church shared his personal impressions from the visit to Sumy, Kharkiv and Poltava regions, which finished the day before: A deep impression is left when you see that Ukraine has won the battle for the sowing season. Ninety-five percent of the fields that were planned to be sown are green now. We have seen how the towns and villages in the Sumy region near the Russia border are living. We saw how deeply wounded the Kharkiv region is. One third of the region is under Russian occupation. And the city of Kharkiv is under Russian fire every day, Poltava and Poltava region have become a humanitarian aid hub that takes in refugees, tries to treat the wounded, serves all those who then return to the front or look for ways to return back home. Through this solidarity, mutual assistance, cooperation between different civil society communities and local authorities, we are looking for the best way to solve the most difficult problems.”

Continuing his reflections on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, His Beatitude Sviatoslav focused on the gift of knowledge.

He explained that by this gift of the Holy Spirit our Lord, Creator and Savior, in the Holy Spirit as if comes out to meet a person who wants to know Him and seeks Him, and raises him to himself, to the level of his supernatural sacrament. Thus, the incomprehensible, immeasurable, eternal God makes Himself known to a man, becomes cognitive for him, revealing to a person the mysteries of his eternal existence. And this is given to us by the power and grace of the Holy Spirit.

“When a person has the gift of knowledge as a gift of the Holy Spirit, she can see as if up close the Wisdom of God, the plan for a man and the world. She can fully understand all the kinds of knowledge that she still has had. We know that modern human knowledge is fragmentary. Everyone knows deeply only a fraction of knowledge, competent in only one narrow specialty. And by the gift of the Holy Spirit a person learns to see the reality she lives in integrally, and know God, to whom she goes and in whom she believes,” the Head of the UGCC mentioned.

“We ask the Holy Spirit, says His Beatitude Sviatoslav, to help Ukrainians today to accept this gift of knowledge, to know more than our enemy, to feel the spiritual world, to see and feel Archangel Michael with his army, which is at war today with evil, the devil in this war alongside the Ukrainians. And we thank the Lord for making Himself known by sending us His only begotten Son, and thus the Holy Spirit, granting us knowledge.”

“O God, bless Ukraine! O God, bless the Ukrainian army. O God, bless all those who seek You, want to know You, want to believe in You and serve You. O God, give Ukraine peace, free Ukraine from the invader. Grant victory to the Ukrainian army and the Ukrainian people,” added at the end His Beatitude Sviatoslav.

The UGCC Department for Information