Video-message of His Beatitude Sviatoslav. April 15th. 51st day of war

Today is Friday 15 April 2022 and Ukraine is already experiencing 51 days of nationwide confrontation, resistance to Russian aggression. Ukraine is on fire. And these lines of fire are getting wider and more frightening. Ukraine is on fire from Kharkiv to Mariupol in the east and from Mariupol to Mykolaiv in the south. Guns are firing. Bombs, missiles, and rockets are falling on the heads of civilians. Millions of people have already left their homes. Unfortunately, the war continues and we understand less and less how it will develop further. Everyone expects another great military confrontation, but Ukraine is praying for victory. Ukraine prays and fights for a just peace. The Ukrainian army, heroically, at the cost of its own life, protects the lives of peaceful people and the future of Ukraine and the future of Europe.

In the midst of this terrible pain, we still look to the light of God’s truth, because we feel that we are dying for that truth. This truth of God gives meaning to our struggle. Thus, today, I would like to reflect with you on the Eighth Commandment of God, which protects human life in truth and says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” This commandment of God follows from the very grounded, profound vocation of God’s people to be witnesses of the one and true God. To live in truth in relation to God, to one’s neighbour, is the main core, the main element of this testimony. This commandment of God also protects the dignity of a person who has the right to a good name, to a good reputation, who has the right to respect his dignity, and the truth about his life and deeds. During war, the first victim of war is always the truth, but we know that Christ said of Himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Therefore, a Christian who lives in truth during the war testifies to the truth, speaks the truth as a witness to what they saw and experienced. They thus honour, venerate the Lord himself and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

We see that the great war that is being fought in Ukraine today, which is unparalleled in scale and intensity since World War II, is a war called a hybrid war, in order to humiliate one’s enemy. He is initially humiliated through falsehood. The great war today is connected with a great lie. But we, as Christians, are called to live in truth and to bear witness to it, even when this truth is not beneficial to anyone, because in this way we fulfill the prophetic ministry, the prophetic mission of the Christian and the Church. When we testify to the truth, we defend the truth, even our ecclesial and liturgical gestures, by which we reveal our faith to the world, by which we venerate the Cross of Christ. The truth about man is inextricably linked with the truth of Christian witness today.

Today, I would like to especially thank all those who have the courage to testify to the truth of the suffering of the Ukrainian people. I want to thank all the journalists who come to Ukraine these days to show the world the cruel, difficult truth about the crimes of Russians on our land. Many of them were killed and wounded. May the Lord God repay a hundredfold all the workers of mass media who help modern man to know the truth and to follow it.

Today I especially want to thank all the witnesses of Russian crimes who have the courage to testify and speak about it. To live in truth is the power that makes us unconquerable, because truth has its own power, it must not be explained and defended, it must be witnessed, it must be told to the world, and truth will always prevail, just as light conquers darkness.

O God, bless Ukraine! Bless the prophets of our time who speak to the conscience of modern man and reveal to him the eternal truth about God, present among us! O God, bless Ukraine, which lives and dies for God’s truth today.

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

Glory to Jesus Christ!