In Ukraine, Hope Wears the Face of a Warrior and a Young Heart: UGCC Head on the 149th Week of War
We strive to make hope fruitful in our lives during the Jubilee year. This was stated by the Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, in his traditional video address on the 149th week of the horrendous sacrilegious war that the Russian aggressor brought to peaceful Ukrainian land.
Photo credit: Vitalii Yurasov / the Collection of war.ukraine.ua
The Primate noted that this week was again marked by tragedies in different parts of Ukraine. On Friday, our golden-domed Kyiv was subjected to a massive missile attack. At least one person was killed and about ten people were wounded. The embassies of four countries—Portugal, Argentina, North Macedonia and Montenegro—were damaged. The famous Church of St. Nicholas in the center of the capital was damaged.
The Head of the Church expressed his condolences to all the victims.
Kherson, Kryvyi Rih, and Kharkiv also suffered massive artillery fire. The town of Zolochiv in the Kharkiv region was subjected to intense shelling and air strikes: the UGCC parish was damaged.
“Despite this, we thank the Lord God and the Armed Forces of Ukraine that this Sunday evening we are alive and can say to ourselves, to each other, and to the world: Ukraine stands, Ukraine fights, Ukraine prays!” he emphasized.
In just a few days, Ukraine, along with the whole world, will celebrate one of the greatest Christian holidays—the birth of God’s Son in a human body, the Nativity of Christ.
As His Beatitude Sviatoslav noted, this year is the third time that we in Ukraine will celebrate this holiday in the midst of a brutal war. “A distinctive feature of this Christmas,” he said, “is darkness and cold. The enemy continues its efforts to deprive Ukrainians of light and warmth. But God, His power, light and the warmth of His love are with us. Ukrainians will congratulate each other on this holiday, wishing each other heavenly joy and peace, which come not from people but from God.”
Read also:
Video-message of the Head of the UGCC on the 148th Week of Full-Scale War, December 15, 2024
Our Church in Ukraine and in the diaspora, together with the entire Universal Church, is entering this year of hope. The Head of the Church noted that next Sunday we are opening the jubilee doors in our cathedrals and will be pilgrimaging throughout the year as bearers of this hope, striving for its fulfillment in the modern history of the Ukrainian people.
“In Ukraine, hope takes on heroic images,” the spiritual leader believes. “When we see our soldiers who, overcoming fatigue, rise once again, sacrificing their own lives to defend Ukraine, then our Motherland takes on the face of a warrior.
Today, His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasizes, hope in Ukraine takes the face of Ukrainian youth, who attend funerals more often than weddings of their peers. Yet these young people are capable of loving, creating new families, giving birth to children, and defending their homeland.
“We enter the New Year,” says the spiritual leader, “hoping for the heavenly peace of Christ, which the newborn Savior will bring with him from heaven.
The UGCC Department for Information
