From the Head of the UGCC at the Kyiv Three Saints Theological Seminary: We are starting the new academic year with great trust in the Lord
The Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, celebrated the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the beginning of the academic year at the Kyiv Three Saints Theological Seminary in Knyazhychy.
The delegation of the Bishops’ Conference of France, which has been in Ukraine for the past few days, also participated in the joint prayer.
“We start the new academic year with great trust in the Lord God because His power keeps us alive. It is His power that gives us hope. It is He who gives us the strength to live and do something good,” said the Primate.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav thanked seminarians for their courage to respond positively to their vocation, as being a priest in wartime means being a spiritual warrior and enter a fight.
The Archbishop thanked God for the unique first course, which will be attended by seminarians from Brazil, Azerbaijan, and those studying for the London Diocese in Great Britain.
According to him, some seminarians had to cross Russian roadblocks to reach the seminary but still made it from the occupied territory to the seminary, particularly Melitopol.
The Primate also noted that being a deacon in military circumstances is a unique service mission because a deacon is, first of all, one who knows his people’s pains, needs, and sufferings.
The delegation of the Bishops’ Conference of France, which has been in Ukraine for the past few days, participated in the joint prayer. In addition, Most Rev. Bishop Hlib Lonchyna, apostolic administrator of the diocese of St. Volodymyr in Paris, who accompanied the delegation, delivered a sermon at the Liturgy.
The UGCC Department for Information
