His Beatitude Sviatoslav. April 5. 41st day of war

Today is Tuesday 5 April 2022 and Ukraine, our people, is experiencing the forty-first day of this terrible, deadly war that ever days takes away the lives of tens, hundreds of peaceful people on our land.

We are experiencing the time of Great Lent and moving toward the bright feast of the Resurrection of Christ. Precisely in this time, Christians of various confessions are bowing down before the crucified Saviour. The Christian faith teaches us not to turn our eyes away from God who became human, from God whom humans dishonoured, crucified, and killed in the most shameful way. The Christian faith teaches us to honour the wounds of Christ, to kiss them, because we know that by His wounds we were healed [cf. Isaiah 53:5], as the Prophet Isaiah writes.

In these days Ukraine is experiencing her Golgotha, her crucifixion. Today I ask all of us, all Christians of the whole world, all people of good will, do not turn your eyes away from the humiliation and suffering, the death and wounds of Ukraine. In these days before the eyes of the whole world there are gruesome scenes of war crimes in the cities and villages of Ukraine. Literally a few tens of kilometres from the centre of Kyiv we see today hundreds of killed bodies shot in the back of the head. We see the wounds of the Ukrainian people.

When we ask ourselves why, why did this happen, for what reason were these innocent people tortured and then killed, the witnesses of these horrors tell us today that they were killed simply because they were Ukrainian, because they spoke the Ukrainian language. They asked each one about their profession. If they were teachers, they were killed because they taught in Ukrainian and raised Ukrainians. If they were athletes, they were killed because they fostered Ukrainian sport. If they were artists or directors, they killed them because they fostered and developed Ukrainian culture. 

We see that this war of Russia against Ukraine has a clear ideological foundation. This was stated in the last few days at the highest levels of government in Russia. This war is a denial of the existence of the Ukrainian nation numbering many millions.

This war is being carried out today to propose a final solution of the Ukrainian question.

Today I call upon the whole world not to turn your eyes away from the wounds of Ukraine. Because these wounds can heal you from the illusions of your comfort zones, from your indifference, from the lack of direction in the life of your societies and countries.

We ask the whole world to pay attention to the crimes against the Ukrainian people which are worthy of an international tribunal. Similar actions are taking place throughout Ukraine, in Rubizhne e Popasna in Donbas, in Mariupol in Ukraine’s South. Today we speak to the conscience of the contemporary person: let us do everything to stop a murderous ideology that is bringing forth its fruit on Ukrainian land, an ideology that is perhaps worse than Nazism, an ideology that is still awaiting its Nuremberg trials.

Today I would like to particularly thank our volunteers who are the first to touch the wounds of the people of Ukraine. Today the volunteers are diverse people from all over the world, of different nationalities and religions. I thank you for this! Today being a volunteer is dangerous to one’s life because the most people die today when humanitarian corridors are supposedly opened for the evacuation of refugees, but who are then shot mercilessly. How many volunteers who were carrying food to those who were dying of hunger were then shot by Russian bullets!

Today we ask: O our crucified Saviour, save Ukraine! O God, bless our army that saves the lives of its people! O God, bless our nation that is seeking in You and in Your wounds her only refuge and protection! 

May the blessing of the Lord be upon you through His grace and love for humankind, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ!