“Allow me to kiss your hand” — the Head of the UGCC to a priest from occupied Melitopol
Today in the Gospel, we heard about the hand of the Good Samaritan, the hand of the priest who administers the Holy Sacraments. And here is the hand that brought God’s grace to our brothers and sisters in Melitopol and its surroundings. The hand, which was shackled and taken away from the parish by force!
His Beatitude Sviatoslav said this on Sunday, December 4, at the end of the Liturgy in the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv, pointing to Fr. Oleksandr Bohomaz, who was apprehended by the occupiers a few days ago in Melitopol.
“Allow me to make one gesture — to kiss the hand that poured and will pour God’s grace on the wounds of our people,” said the Head of the Church and kissed the hand of the released priest.
The Primate noted that the occupiers destroyed the Greek-Catholic parish in Melitopol. “However, everyone is rejoicing today because we managed to free Father Oleksandr Bohomaz, who had been apprehended.”
“I asked him several times: ‘Father, shall we save you?’. And he said with tears in his eyes: ‘No, there are so many people here who ask for Confession, Holy Communion, they get married, and baptized. Who will serve them if I don’t stay here?!’ He was under special pressure during the pseudo-referendum. Seven times they came to him to admit a Russian passport!” — said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
The Head of the UGCC expressed hope that Father Oleksandr would return to Melitopol with the Ukrainian army, which would liberate our territories.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized that the enemy is persecuting Greek Catholic priests in the occupied territories. “Our two priests in Berdiansk, Father Ivan Levytskyi and Father Bohdan Heleta — are imprisoned. We know that they are being tortured mercilessly. Confessions are being extracted from them in crimes they did not commit,” said the Head of the UGCC.
“May the Lord bless all our priests. May he save our fathers Ivan and Bohdan and again bring them as a gift to the Church for service,” the Primate added.
The UGCC Department for Information
