The Head of the UGCC on Easter: “To Celebrate Easter during the war means to see our victory in a resurrected Christ”

Monday, 13 April 2015, 11:10

I wish all of you to rejoice in a resurrected Christ, for this joy comes not from our infirmities and annoyances but from God. May this Easter joy pay a visit to every Ukrainian family, and those, who celebrate Easter with a whistle and whine of bullets and strikes of missiles may be filled with this joy, too. To celebrate Easter during the war means to see our victory in a resurrected Christ.

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The Father and the Head of the UGCC His Beatitude Sviatoslav told about it during an Easter Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ of the UGCC that is in Kyiv, the day of the Resurrection of OLJC on 12^th of April.

Bishop Bohdan Dzyurakh Secretary of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC and administrator of the Patriarchal Curia of the UGCC together with Bishop Yosyph an auxiliary bishop of the Kyiv Archeparchy and many other priests co-served with a supreme Archbishop of the UGCC.

The Head of the Church told if someone truly wants to perceive the resurrection of Christ, let he stretch his hand for a needy and weak, then he will understand the meaning to arise from the dead with a Savior.

“What the notion “to resurrect” means to us? When apostles firstly heard from Christ the word “resurrection” they didn’t understand it. Thus, walking the road, they were asking one another about the meaning of rising from the dead. For death is realities we acquainted with, especially when we lose the dearest person. And resurrection is an experience that is above a human’s reach and his life experiences”, said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.

Proceeding with an Easter homily, the Head of the UGCC mentioned, as the Gospel gives it, resurrection is like an eternal light the world is filled with. Also, in his opinion, the symbol of the resurrection is a stretched hand for a needy and fallen.

“One of the oldest way to depict the Resurrection of Christ is an icon “Harrowing of hell”, the main in our Patriarchal Cathedral. In this icon we see the hand of our resurrected Savior stretched for a fallen Adam. Christ stretches His vivifying hand fastened to the cross, bringing up with it a fallen man, leading him to a new life, - explained a preacher.

So today it is important for us to feel and take this vivifying hand of a resurrected Savior stretched for us. For, He raises from the dead and steps into eternal life with all of us”.

“In this bright day we ask Lord to stretch His vivifying hand for Ukraine! It is essential for us to go through the Resurrection of Christ as a real reviving victory of Him, granting us by His almighty hand”, signified His beatitude Sviatoslav.

UGCC Department of Information