Help from people of good will who are experiencing Ukraine’s suffering as their own is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, - the Head of the UGCC on the 102nd day of the war

Fierce fighting is taking place again in the Luhansk region, which is becoming the center of great confrontation. The enemy concentrated its greatest forces to storm the heroic cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. However, he has no success, since our army, the defenders of Ukraine are bravely defending the Motherland. The entire front line from north to south is on fire. The enemy continues to fire at Mykolayiv, Odesa, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions. Great battles are being fought in the Kharkiv region. This morning the enemy fired again at our Kyiv, our capital,” mentioned the Head of the UGCC.

“But Ukraine stands. Ukraine is struggling. Ukraine, looking at God's wisdom, God's plan for our people, our God's people, finds the inner strength to fight evil and protect their land and native people,” he mentioned.

In his address, His Beatitude Sviatoslav drew attention to the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus Christ, which is said in the Gospel on the Sunday of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council.

“This High Priestly Prayer, this special Word of God addressed to us, shows that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of unity, the Spirit of communion, the Spirit who gives and creates unity among people. It is the Holy Spirit who transforms closed human hearts, transforms various congregations of people, such as gathering or society into a community and makes them one Church that has “one heart and one soul”, as we read about the first Christian community in Jerusalem,” he explained.

We often had to hear the words “I am yours”, “you are mine,” says the Primate. This feeling, the experience of belonging to another person reveals to us the secret of our own personality, our existence, our identity.

And during the war, he continued, we lose so much of what is “ours.” Millions of people are losing their homes, what they have gained during their lives. They are losing their relatives and friends... And at this time the Holy Spirit reveals to us the meaning of the ministry of Christ's Church.

“Some people become aware of themselves as Ukrainians, Christians, and members of Christ's Church only when they find themselves abroad or share the fate of an emigrant or refugee. It is then important for them to find their own,” the Father and Head of the Church remarked and told the story of a woman, a refugee from Donbass, who said: “In a foreign place I first of all look for my Church.”

“In this way a person finds her own, and therefore everything she needs to escape, survive, and find herself in the tragic circumstances of war,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized.

In his address, the Primate thanked people of good will who are experiencing grief, pain, suffering of Ukraine as their own, because, according to him, it is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

“I thank those who help Ukraine as if grief, misfortune, war have come to their home, land, - he said and added: - Once again I want to thank the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, in particular its Prefect, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, who is in Romania these days to visit Ukrainian refugees. He crossed the border with Ukraine to show universal Christian solidarity with the victims of the war.”

“Words about “their own” are now being fulfilled in the destiny of the Ukrainian people, for whom the Church of Christ is their own. And as its motto of pastoral care, our Church has defined the following words: “Your Church is always and everywhere with you,” the Head of the UGCC pointed out.

“O God, bless Ukraine! O God, be one with us, for Your Church is Your body, and You are the Head of this body! You are suffering today through the suffering of Your people. O, God bless the children of Ukraine, no matter where they are now! God, bless Ukraine with Your peace and the grace of Your Holy Spirit descending upon us!” – asks the spiritual leader of Ukrainians.