Video-message of His Beatitude Sviatoslav, March 30, 2022.

Today is 30 March 2022 and Ukraine is already experiencing 35 days of this terrible patriotic war.

More and more we begin to feel the immediate consequences of this war. A war that leads to mass murder. We see how the enemy ruthlessly destroys our cities and villages, executes peaceful civilians, has regard neither for the spiritual nor the cultural heritage of the Ukrainian people.

We are just beginning to see more profoundly the consequences of this war. War always brings destruction. Whole cities and villages have turned into ghost towns. Where there was once a flourishing intellectual, spiritual, and civic life, today there are fires and blustering wind. War always brings hunger, impoverishment of the people. You and I must be ready to overcome these consequences in one way or another.

We already see that millions of people have left their homes. Today we are talking about almost 3 million refugees who have left Ukraine. It is said that at least 6 million people have been forced to leave their towns and villages and half of them are children.

Ukraine has lost 50% of its economy. This means that the coming weeks, the coming month will probably be one of the most difficult.

But Ukraine is standing! Ukraine is fighting! Ukraine is victorious and surprises the world.

Everyone is looking for reasons: How is it so? Where does the strength of Ukrainians come from? Why do they give their lives so courageously?

We can say this today: Ukraine is defending the truth, fighting for the truth. She fights for the fact that human life has its dignity, it is priceless. And just to destroy it or make it a tool, a hostage in the politics of certain political criminals is unacceptable.

This war reminds us more and more of the rules of unseen warfare, the spiritual struggle that every Christian wages with the devil, with evil, and his servants. Today I want to recall another rule of this spiritual struggle. Evil always hides in the dark. If the devil and evil deeds are brought to light, if they are debunked, then immediately the devil loses strength. He is destroyed in the light. The light of God’s truth weakens and disarms him. Therefore, if we hide or conceal our sins, our flaws, they become stronger, they dominate us. But when we bring them to light, go to confession, speak of them truthfully to ourselves, and open our hearts to a spiritual father, it is as if we bring the devil to the light and take away his power.

Reflecting on these rules of spiritual struggle, on the need to debunk, to expose evil, today I especially want to thank all the workers of mass media communication, to all those journalists who tell the truth at the cost of their own lives. They tell the truth about the suffering and pain of Ukraine.

We know that some words are banned in Russia today, for example “war.” I thank all those who have the courage to tell the truth, who not only hear the truth about Ukraine, but bring it to the world and thereby unmask, bring the devil to light, disarm him. And it gives us the strength to be victorious.

In our spiritual life, we know that there are so-called “other people’s sins”, that is, sins committed by another person. However, I can become responsible for the sins of another. One such sins is to keep silent about sin or to praise another’s sin.

Today I want to urge all of you not to be involved in the sins of others. Do not become complicit in the crimes that are taking place in Ukraine through your own silence or fear of telling the truth.

Bring the devil to light and we will overcome! For we feel that God’s light illumines the hearts of Ukrainians today. And the truth for which we live and die is the content of our strength, resilience, and will be the key to Ukraine’s victory.

O God, bless the Ukrainian army! O God, save Ukraine! Bless the Ukrainian people!

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!