“Finding God amid the night of one’s fear is the key to human fortitude”: His Beatitude Sviatoslav in Krylos
Amidst the depths of Ukraine’s suffering, the Lord is calling every son and daughter of the Ukrainian people today: “Come to Me!”. In a human sense, we would like to resist the elements to overcome other forces that evoke fear, as happened to the disciples in the boat without Jesus.
But Christ said: “No! Give up these senseless efforts and come to Me!” The one who finds the way to God amid fear and pain finds peace, tranquility and becomes unbreakable in the struggle to which the Lord calls him, stated the Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, in his sermon during the XI All-Ukrainian pilgrimage to the Galician Miraculous Icon of the Mother of God in Krylos, Prykarpattia.
“Finding God amid the night of our own fear, feeling His presence when we perhaps think of Him least of all,” added the Primate, “is the key to fortitude, the key to the capacity of a person to walk with Christ over the waters of the abyss of our sea of life, which is filled with the horrors of war, pain, and death. Christ calls us to Himself, to His peace, because He alone is the key to our peace, strength, and victory.”
While addressing the pilgrims, His Beatitude Sviatoslav said that the Crylos Hill, where the Lord God willed us to gather again today, has been a special time and space of meeting for a millennium — an encounter of man with God. Entire generations of our fathers and mothers in faith came here to meet God, to stand before His face, to feel His saving hand amidst the stormy waves of the sea of life.
And although last night was tense because of the Russian attack with about 30 missiles and other weapons, the morning has come, and we are standing in prayer. “We have come to this All-Ukrainian pilgrimage to princely Halych to pray for Ukraine, our homeland, and our people. Standing here on this hill, I think all our thoughts go to our warriors, the sons, and daughters of Ukraine, who are now in the East and South of Ukraine, closing this time and space of prayer with their breasts. Today, our prayers and requests are for victory — the victory of Ukraine over this godless enemy who sows death,” the Head of the Church emphasized.
“I believe that the word of God about Him being the first to move to a person in the abyss of his own fear especially resonates in our hearts in the context of war,” continued His Beatitude Sviatoslav. “What should we do then? How should we act when we find ourselves in the middle of the night of our own fears? Like Peter in the waters, we want to cry out: ‘Teacher, save us; we are perishing!’ Christ calls us not to run away from the night of terror but to conquer it! To conquer it with Him! There, the Lord wants us to approach Him, even on the water amid our fear, to walk toward the One who alone can walk over great waters to win!”
The Head of the UGCC stated that we, Christians, have a efficacious vaccine against fear, and the key to resilience is prayer. Even in the most dangerous moments of our lives, we pray, communicate, and seek the way to our Lord and Savior, who is present among us in basements and bomb shelters, field dugouts, and trenches.
“Praying and seeking the way to God in a sea of our own despair,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized, “means saying: ‘Lord, if You are here, command me to come to You.’ And in our fear, the Lord calls me and says: ‘Come to me!’. Only then can we experience the saving hand of the Lord, which reaches out for me at that moment. Only then can we return with Him to our boat of personal life. And only then will the morning come when I hold the hand of my Christ. Even amid the sea of my despair and crying His peace, His calmness comes to me, and then I have the strength to live until the morning — until the dawn of our victory!”
The Patriarch reminded us that this year’s pilgrimage to Krylos marks the 1125th anniversary of the ancient city of Halych.
The Head of the Church reminded us that we, Christians, celebrate this anniversary not only as a secular date, state, or public event but, first of all, as a moment of God’s action, God’s movement toward man. “Today, we want to offer our Church and our people under the protection of the Mother of God. And we ask: God, save Ukraine, God, save us all! Jesus, our fortress and strength, be our peace and victory!” concluded His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
After the Liturgy, the Head of the UGCC announced the establishment of the Patriarchal Courtyard in Krylos, the center of which became the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the church itself was given the title of Patriarchal Procathedral.
At the end of the pilgrimage, the clergy and pilgrims prayed to the Lord for peace in Ukraine and its victory. His Beatitude Sviatoslav blessed the relatives of the Ukrainian defenders who had fallen in the war.
The UGCC Department for Informationbased on the materials of the Information Department of the Ivano-Frankivsk Archeparchy of the UGCC
