On the 101st day of the war the Head of the UGCC told who can comfort when Ukraine is crying and mourning its losses

His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the UGCC emphasized in his daily address on the 101st day of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The Head of the UGCC noted that as for June 4, 2022, intense fighting is taking place in eastern and southern Ukraine. The main military clash between Russian and Ukrainian troops is the city of Severodonetsk, where even some streets move from hands to hands several times. “The enemy is mercilessly shelling the entire territory of Ukraine. Sirens are heard everywhere, both day and night,” the Primate stated, adding that three-digit numbers already outline this time of grief, suffering, and pain that Ukraine is experiencing.

“But Ukraine stands. Ukraine is struggling. Ukraine believes in God, who is our strength and fortress,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav stressed.

The Head of the Church added that Ukraine grieves and mourns its losses, mourns its children who are being killed. The words of Scripture are fulfilled, in which the people cry out to the Lord: “God, we are considered as sheep for slaughter!” It is also known about the intensification of repressions in the occupied territories. Filtration camps are being built, which are real concentration camps. According to the Russian side, about one and a half million Ukrainians have been deported to Russia, 300,000 of them children.

On this day, when the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is experiencing the second day of the Missionary Decade, preparing for the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Head of the UGCC reflected on what it means to be comforted during the war and explained who the Holy Spirit, the Advocate is.

“Apparently, this is not about the spirit of enjoyment, which simply diverts our attention from the tragedy of reality. It is the Comforter who gives true relief, that is, removes the cause of our weeping, sorrow and anguish, and heals our wounds inflicted on us by sin. Indeed, this war inflicts deep wounds on Ukrainian society, our people. We cry and we suffer. And who can comfort us? Today we predominantly pray for women, children, the elderly who have lost their husbands, parents, sons and daughters. Who can comfort a mother who cries over the grave of her murdered son or her murdered daughter? We turn to the Advocate,” the Primate pointed out.

His Beatitude Sviatoslav quoted the Patriarch Athenagoras, who once spoke very aptly about the consolation and the role of the Holy Spirit: “Without the Holy Spirit, God is far away, Christ remains in the past, the Gospel is a dead letter, the Church is a simple organization, authority is a dominion, the missions are propaganda, the cult an evocation, Christian behavior the morals of slaves. But with the Holy Spirit the cosmos is elevated, the groans of the birth pains of the Kingdom are heard the risen Christ is present, the Gospel is the power of life, the Church means a communion, her authority is a service, the mission is a Pentecost, the liturgy is a memorial and an advent, human actions are divinized.”

That is why today we pray: “O Holy Spirit, be our Comforter. Wipe off tears of the children of Ukraine. O Spirit, come and conquer the spirit of war, the spirit of the devil, who today mows life and gathers his crops of death. O Holy Spirit, come and comfort Ukraine and renew the face of the earth.”

The UGCC Department for Information