From the Head of the UGCC on Bright Monday: We are called to create a community of believers who could acquaint modern Ukraine with Christ

“And when we leave the temple and say, ‘Christ is Risen!’” the Primate added, “it is not because someone told us about it, but because we touched Him and met Him in the womb of Divine Liturgy”.

Celebrating this parish feast day, the Head of the Church noted that we are called to create a community of believers who could introduce the Resurrection to modern Kyiv, modern Ukraine and Ukrainians, our modern world. Since during the war in particular, we constantly hear this question: where is God? Where is He, when missiles and bombs fall on us, air raid alerts are sounded every time - where is He?

“And it is our task, the task of people who believe, who have personal communication experience with the risen Christ present among us, to reveal this secret of His presence to those who seek Him. For even today we can say: the risen Christ is present among us, the only thing we need is to have our senses open for communication, need to believe in the Risen”, the preacher added.

The Head of the Church especially thanked the parishioners, who even during the war love their cathedral and gather in it. His Beatitude Sviatoslav also greeted thousands of virtual parishioners who, when possible, unify in prayer through live broadcasts.

Thousands of people from all over the world consider themselves parishioners of the Patriarchal Cathedral because they feel that some kind of strength emerges from here and supports them, inspires them, gives them the opportunity to go further, to survive in this bloody war.

We see, His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasizes, how this cathedral begins to gather its people and serve them at the same time. He recalled how the “Patriarchal hideout” operated here during the Revolution of Dignity, as people called it, where you could not just warm up but also have a snack.

Here, in this cathedral, people found their own human dignity encountering with Christ. That is why the world called this revolution the Revolution of Dignity.

When the pandemic broke out, this cathedral became the center of saving human lives. “Today, during the war, the cathedral serves as a bomb shelter and a center of social service, meeting all the needs of a modern man in the name of the risen Savior. Because we feel that He is among us. He reveals the Father to us, and we are called to reveal Him to the world through good deeds”, the Head of the UGCC emphasized.

The UGCC Department for Information