From the Head of the UGCC on the 121st day of the war: The ability to be patient in our struggle can be one of the types of victory over evil

Sunday, 26 June 2022, 15:59

Long-suffering gives a person the opportunity to move forward through the daily work of an ant, as the righteous Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky taught, because that is how the whole nation goes towards its goal. Endurance in good shows a person's intention, how much she seeks good, how much she wants to accomplish what the Lord calls her to do. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the UGCC said during a daily address on the 121st day of Russia's war against Ukraine.

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The Primate noted that fierce fighting had continued on all fronts over the past 24 hours. “According to our military and our government - the intensity of shelling, hostilities is growing. Powerful blows were inflicted on the Sumy and Kharkiv regions. This morning the city of Mykolaiv and the Mykolaiv region were fired upon. However, the severest, most appalling conditions and military clashes are in the Luhansk region, around the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. There, our military hold down huge enemy forces and covers Ukraine with their chests. Civilian, innocent people have died again in the last 24 hours. We place them in the hands of our Heavenly Father,” said the Head of the UGCC.

Today the Primate reflected on another fruit of the action of the Holy Spirit, another sign of man's maturity in his Christian vocation – patience.

What patience does the word of God and the Church of Christ teach us? His Beatitude Sviatoslav explains that when we speak of patience as the fruit of the Holy Spirit, we first look into the face of God. Precisely, we are talking about a certain sign of God, who is patient with a man.

“God's word,” he adds, “sometimes calls our God long-suffering. The Lord does not want the death of a sinner, but knows how to wait a long time, create the appropriate time and space for this sinner to convert, get rid of his malice, sin and be able to live”.

“Therefore, long-suffering is a trait of Christians who show mercy to the shortcomings, sins, infirmities of others,” the Primate sums up.

However, to be long-suffering towards the weak, the Archbishop continues, does not mean to accept this weakness or to cover up for a sin or evil, but to be able to be merciful and do everything possible to make this person recover and get rid of sin.

“Patience as the fruit of the Holy Spirit has another feature. In the Christian life it is very important to be persevering in the good. This patience also applies to us, because sometimes an immature person wants to understand everything at once. I remember a young man who said: “I don't know what I want, but I want it already,” the Archbishop said.

According to him, patience helps a person to overcome various dangers and difficulties and is the realization of such a gift of the Holy Spirit as fortitude.

“We really need the ability to be patient today. Because, perhaps, patient endurance in the spiritual and professional vocation, in our struggle will be one of those victories over evil, over the Russian aggressor,” the Head of the UGCC assumed.

“We are saying today: God, thank You for being patient with us, with our weaknesses, even with our infidelity and menace! O God, let us endure in good until death! God, help us, strengthen us in the struggle for the freedom of our Motherland! O God, bless Ukraine! O God, bless the Ukrainian army. God, give us all the patience to win our victory!” added His Beatitude Sviatoslav.

The UGCC Department for Information