Wisdom as a gift of the Holy Spirit is the ability to know the truth, to see the perspective of God’s plan, - the Head of the UGCC on the 111th day of the war

The Head of the UGCC thanks God and the Ukrainian army every day for another day and morning spent in Ukraine, and reports news from the front and the occupied territories of Ukraine:

“For 111 days The Ukrainian people have been opposing full-scale Russian aggression. 111th day of the great war that started by the Russian invader against peaceful Ukraine. We thank the Lord and our Armed Forces for surviving this morning and being able to see the light of day.

“Heavy fighting is taking place along the entire front line. But alongside the front line, our army has a strategic initiative. Although the enemy outnumbers us and has more firepower, the Ukrainians withstand this onslaught. The enemy mercilessly shells the Sumy region, Chernihiv region, shelling reappeared in the city of Kharkiv. This morning a missile strike was launched on the Odessa region. But Ukraine is standing it! Ukraine is fighting! Today, Ukraine is more united than ever. United in a common desire, the desire to win, and this victory will be the achievement of a just peace for our country.”

His Beatitude Sviatoslav spoke about another crime of the Russians, which became known yesterday – the captivity of 33 volunteers from Mariupol:

“These are drivers who took people out of this martyr city by various means of transport and saved their lives, under bombs, shelling, risking their own lives. They were captured by the Russians, subjected to ruthless torture and, at best, face a long period of captivity. Russians accuse them of terrorism. The Russian occupier does not know how to distinguish a volunteer from a terrorist. Today we want to say out loud to the whole world: no violence against civilians! A volunteer is not a terrorist, but a savior of human life!”

“These days, after the Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Head of the UGCC offers to reflect on the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit that God bestows on man. According to him, this is a special sensitivity to God's presence, the ability to see God's plan in everything:

“Yesterday we were celebrating the Feast of the Holy Spirit, the Feast of the Holy Trinity. That is why today I want to begin our daily reflection on the gifts that the Holy Spirit has brought to a person. According to our traditional catechism, there are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit - that is, the signs by which the Holy Spirit rests on a person.

We first read about these gifts of the Holy Spirit from the prophet Isaiah. According to the prophet, it is by these signs we can recognize the Messiah, Christ, anointed with the Holy Spirit. He says: “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him - the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord.”

Therefore, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are a special sensitivity to God's presence that the Holy Spirit gives to a person. The holy fathers of the Eastern Church spoke of the so-called spiritual senses that the Holy Spirit reveals in a person. Just as in order to know this visible created world, we have sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, so the Lord has given a man a number of senses, through which we can contemplate God, His presence among us.”

The first gift of the Holy Spirit, which His Beatitude Sviatoslav reflects on, is wisdom, the ability to know the truth, to see the perspective and meanings of what is happening to a man and the world:

“Today I would like to reflect with you on the first gift of the Holy Spirit, which is wisdom. In fact, wisdom is a certain ability of a person to contemplate the truth, to know the truth. But to see this truth, which a person is able to discover, in the light of God's wisdom. This wisdom, as a gift of the Holy Spirit, is not the fruit of any training or intellectual ability of a person. As our people say, there are many learned people, but few are wise.

Precisely wisdom, as a gift of the Holy Spirit, allows a person to see everything that she knows, able to do, all the events of her life in a certain perspective. And, most importantly, in the perspective of God's plan for a man and the universe.”

His Beatitude wishes us all God's wisdom, the embodiment of which is the main church of the Ukrainian churches, St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv:

“May the Lord God grant us all His Heavenly Wisdom, that Wisdom of God, to which Prince Yaroslav the Wise dedicated our main cathedral, or church, the Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Kyiv. That Wisdom of God, which for millennia has been a measure of the righteousness of our princes and warriors who build national, social life, church leaders, all those engaged in the struggle of monastic life.”

“O God, give us Your wisdom! Give wisdom to the leaders of our state, give wisdom to the modern leaders of the nations, so that they may live in Your wisdom and reflect it with their lives. And then there will be no wars on earth. May the gift of God's wisdom bring peace to Ukraine and the world,” he concluded.

The UGCC department for Information