Homily of His Beatitude Sviatoslav on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Saint Anne in Canberra
December 10, 2025, 22:28
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“...So that those who enter may see the light” (Lk 8:16).
Your Excellency Archbishop Charles —
Apostolic Nuncio, representative of the Holy Father here in Australia!
Your Excellency Christopher —
Archbishop of Canberra, who prays with us today!
Most Reverend Bishops — members of the Permanent Synod!
Dear Bishop Mykola!
Distinguished members of the diplomatic corps: the Ambassador of Ukraine,
and Their Excellencies the Ambassadors of Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Costa Rica!
Honourable representatives of Ukrainian organisations and institutions in Australia
who are here with us today!
Dear children and young people!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
Apostolic Nuncio, representative of the Holy Father here in Australia!
Your Excellency Christopher —
Archbishop of Canberra, who prays with us today!
Most Reverend Bishops — members of the Permanent Synod!
Dear Bishop Mykola!
Distinguished members of the diplomatic corps: the Ambassador of Ukraine,
and Their Excellencies the Ambassadors of Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Costa Rica!
Honourable representatives of Ukrainian organisations and institutions in Australia
who are here with us today!
Dear children and young people!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
Glory to Jesus Christ!
This beautiful Church of Saint Volodymyr here in Canberra is a jewel of our Church and of Ukrainian sacred architecture. At the same time, it symbolises unity and stands as a sign of the communion of Christ’s Church. I feel at home here, as if in Kyiv, because this holy place is dedicated to Saint Volodymyr, the baptiser of Kyivan Rus’. This church is also an image of the unity between our Mother Church in Ukraine and the Ukrainian community in Australia. It was founded by Patriarch Josyf, and consecrated by two bishops: the confessor of the faith, Bishop Pavlo Vasylyk — a bishop of the underground, persecuted Church in the Soviet Union — and the first Ukrainian Catholic bishop in Australia, of blessed memory Bishop Ivan Prasko. Thus, this church is a sign and a space of the global community of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.
With this Divine Liturgy we conclude the first-ever historic visit of the Permanent Synod of our bishops to Australia, to Canberra, summing up many important meetings with representatives of the state, the Church, and local communities. This church becomes a special place of unity and of building relationships between God and humanity, a meeting place for Ukrainians from all over the world — from Ukraine and from Australia.
We now enter a special time. We are all journeying towards the Nativity of Christ. We are living through the period of the Christmas Fast. Every feast and every spiritual event along this path is a shared step towards celebrating the birth in human flesh of the Son of God, the fulfilment of the mystery of His Incarnation.
In the Byzantine tradition, we have a particular path of preparation for this great feast — a mystagogical path. We are led along it by our Mother and Teacher, the Most Holy Theotokos. It was by confessing Her as the true Mother of God that we began our movement toward Christmas with the Feast of Her Entrance into the Temple. And today we celebrate the Feast of Her Immaculate Conception in the womb of Saint Anne, entering ever more deeply into the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God. This feast offers us a unique perspective on our journey to Christmas, one in which the words of Christ’s Gospel that we heard today are fulfilled:
“No one lights a lamp and covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed; rather, they put it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light” (Lk 8:16).
The Ever-Virgin Mary — the new Eve, who opened a new chapter in human history — begins her earthly life today. I believe all of you, dear children who have studied biology, know that human life begins at the moment of conception. Embryology confirms that a tiny embryo, from the very first moment of its existence, is alive and enters into a web of relationships. Above all, these relationships form with the mother’s body. The human embryo is not merely a cell of her organism but a new human being with a unique genetic identity and its own life-program. At first, the relationship between child and mother forms on biochemical and hormonal levels. With the development of the central and peripheral nervous systems, the child enters interpersonal relations with the mother — fully human relationships. A newborn recognises their mother’s voice, feels the beating of her heart. That is why today, celebrating the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of our Heavenly Mother, the Virgin Mary, we honour Saint Anne, who began the history of the Theotokos’ presence among us.
But the Christian faith reveals something even greater. From the very beginning of her existence, the Immaculate Virgin Mary entered into extraordinarily special, unique, and unrepeatable relations not only with her mother, but also with the Most Holy Trinity. It was precisely this divine—human relationship in the womb of Saint Anne that gave us the true Mother of God, for by the power and action of the Holy Spirit She was preserved from original sin.
This is why, according to our Byzantine tradition, we celebrate Mary’s Immaculate Conception in a distinctive way. Today we honour Her unique relationship — as the future Mother of the Saviour — with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In God’s Providence, the Holy Virgin Mary is the one who offers her human nature to the incarnate Son of God.
According to the definition of the Council of Chalcedon, the Son of God, born of the Father without a mother, was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary without an earthly father. The Son of God is consubstantial with the Father, sharing the same divine nature. He is true God, eternally begotten of the Father. At the same time, the Son of God became consubstantial with us, humans, by taking on true human nature from the Most Holy Virgin Mary. As a Divine Person — one of the Holy Trinity — in His birth among us, He is a real human being, conceived in Mary’s womb without an earthly father. In Jesus Christ these two natures — divine and human — are united in one Person without confusion and without division. All this mystery of the Incarnation came to be through the action and grace of the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of unity and relationship. Through the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God in the womb of Saint Anne, this divine—human mystery of relationship first broke into human history!
Very often, when we are angry with each other, when wounds arise among us, it is the Holy Spirit — the healer of relationships — who leads us into authentic, deep human relationships and, at the same time, into our personal relationship with God. In these relationships we become who we truly are: human beings, and at the same time authentic Christians, God’s sons and daughters, filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is our path of preparation for Christmas! We must all renew our personal relationship with God through the grace of the Holy Spirit under the unique guidance of the Most Holy Theotokos.
We, your bishops of the Permanent Synod, have come to Australia from Ukraine, the United States, Germany, and Poland to build relationships within the communion of our Ukrainian Church. We have come personally so that we may meet you and so that you may feel that your Mother Church is close to you and cares for you. Today is a unique opportunity for each of you to reach out, embrace one another, and build genuine relationships — as human beings, and above all as believers living in faith in God who draws near to us in His Nativity.
I earnestly ask all of you: so that you do not become lost or dissolved in the vast sea of Australian society, gather together and unite within your Mother Church! Here among you are bishops from different continents, and we want to testify: those who, having found themselves abroad, became estranged from their Church, have been lost to Ukraine and to the Ukrainian people. Meanwhile, the global Ukrainian community — more than 1,400 parishes outside the homeland — is a great force for preserving Ukrainians around the world, so that each of you, wherever you may be, can stand for freedom, for the future, and for Ukrainian statehood.
At this time of preparation for the Nativity of Christ we pray for Ukraine and for Ukrainians throughout the world. You who live in Australia: do not lose your connection with your homeland and with your Mother Church. Do not lose your Mother. Today we are fighting for freedom, for the future, for the Ukrainian state.
Prayer is the way to create, nurture, and develop our relationship with God. So let us pray — let us pray for Ukraine and for those who defend it on the frontline. I stand before you only because, at the beginning of the war, someone stood up to defend us. Four years ago we might not have survived… But thanks to the sacrifice of our soldiers and civilians, we live. I assure you: Ukraine stands, Ukraine will win, Ukraine prays for the future of the world! Ukraine is fighting, and we must do this together, so that everyone may have a future according to God’s will.
Most Holy Mother of God, save us!
Glory to Jesus Christ!
† SVIATOSLAV
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