Welcome the refugees, turn anger into courage, comments the Head of the UGCC on the face of fasting during the war

Responding to the question about fasting during wartime, the Primate mentioned that the issue is not as much about food as it is about disciplining oneself.

“We talked about transforming anger into courage. This is fasting itself. If you manage to turn your anger into courage at least a little, to restrain disordered emotions and thus turn them into a force of resistance to the enemy, you are fasting correctly,” said the Head of the Church.

According to him, fasting is, first of all, developing a proper attitude towards material goods: food, clothes, life, everything that surrounds a person. His Beatitude Sviatoslav stressed that being in new circumstances, one should constantly update one’s perception. For example, it is important for a soldier to eat according to the needs of his body, and for a refugee to use that which is at one’s disposal.

According to him, an important feature of a good fast is having the right attitude towards others.   He recalled the words of St John Chrysostom, who taught that there is no special benefit in abstaining from meat if we devour one another.

During his radio interview, His Beatitude Sviatoslav appealed to the residents of Central and Western Ukraine to be hospitable to refugees.

“It means so much when people open not only their houses, but also their hearts to those who are forced to leave their homes and cities to escape the war. I am asking everyone who is listening to us: accept your brothers and sisters! Do not blame them for not speaking Ukrainian as well as you do, for not understanding the truth of the Christian faith, nor for having different political views,”  the Head of the Church entreated, and added: “When you suppress your super patriotic sentiments out of respect for someone who was brought up in a completely different world, it will be your special fasting, by which we will rebuild a deep harmony in Ukrainian society, and thereby, unify our people.”

The Head of the UGCC noted that Ukrainians would return to Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol and other cities. "I would very much like it if they brought back with them memories of gratitude towards the good people of Galicia, Podolia, Volhynia,” he said, “who not only opened their homes to them, but gave them something greater than material wealth - their respect, their hearts, their love."

“This will be a real fast for those who are called to shelter the homeless, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, and counsel the doubtful,” added the Primate.

The UGCC Department of Information