The Head of UGCC blessed the temple of Mother of God of Incessant Help in Slavutych

The priests arrived from the Kyiv region, Frankivsk region, Lviv region and Chernihiv region. In particular, the solemn Liturgy was attended by: Fr. Petro Loza, C.Ss.R , dean of the Chernigiv protopresbytery Fr. Roman Pushka and the economate of the Kiev Archeparchy Fr. Ivan Sokhan The consecration and liturgy were sung by the sisters - missionaries of the Most Holy Redeemer, and the brethren-seminarians of the Kyiv Three-Holy Spiritual Seminary were serving during the liturgy.

During the homily to the faithful, the Primate noted that this is a historical event. "Today, on the eighth day after Easter, here, in Slavutych, we sanctified a newly built temple. The center of the consecrtion rite in our Byzantine tradition is the consecration of the altar. The altar in the temple is nothing more than a visible sign and a symbol of the presence between us in the invisible way of the risen Christ," said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.

According to the Bishop, this temple becomes especially important when we look into the community of Slavutych. "This city," said the preacher, "bears wounds in his heart and his body. These are wounds, perhaps of one of the most horrible man-made disasters in the twentieth century. The word ‘Chornobyl’ is not even translated into other languages ​​today."

"We know that the city of Slavutych today is connected with the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, as many residents are still working there. This is the city of liquidators, who still carry on their bodies the wounds of this great catastrophe," said the spiritual leader of the Greek Catholics. "Where, if not in Slavutych, today can you touch the wounds of the risen Christ?!" believes His Beatitude Sviatoslav.

"Today in Slavutych," the Head of the Church notes, "we sing the song of the Resurrection, a song of hope. Here every Ukrainian citizen and every guest from different countries of the world can be assured that Christ has truly risen. Because your city is growing and developing. Where do you take power to overcome the hardships to hope and go ahead? I think this power stems from the pierced side of the risen Christ and is a sign of His presence between us, the power and grace of His Holy Spirit. "

In the Primate’s opinion, today's event will open up even better to residents of Slavutych access to the source of life. "I think it will be better and easier for the inhabitants of the city to hear the Word of God, the Word of the Divine Gospel in the temple. But the most important thing is - to partake of the Holy Sacraments of the Body and Blood of our resurrected Savior," added the Archbishop.

His Beatitude Sviatoslav thanked all those who worked and prayed for this day to come.

"I want to wish each of us to be living members of the resurrected Body of Christ, which is the Church. I wish you to be truly believers who, like the Apostle Thomas, will now say to themselves and to God and to the people: Christ is my Lord and my God," said the preacher.

At the end of the sanctification of the church, the faithful and the inhabitants of Slavutych together prayed for the victims of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster near the Memorial to the Heroes of Chornobyl.

Photo by Dmytro Korchak

The UGCC Department for Information