“Metropolitan Sheptytsky’s Prophecy About Kyiv Is Coming True Before Our Eyes,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav
During the pilgrimage to the Patriarchal Cathedral, the Head of the UGCC remembered the prophetic words of the righteous Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky on the role of Ukrainian Kyiv for the whole world and thanked God for 30 years of the revival of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the center, east, south, and north of Ukraine. The pinnacle of this revival was the return of the seat of the Father and Head of the UGCC to Kyiv after centuries of liquidation and exile.
On August 17, 2025, on the 10th Sunday after Pentecost, His Beatitude Sviatoslav presided over the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv to mark the 30th anniversary of the restoration of the Kyiv Metropolia and the 20th anniversary of the transfer of the seat of the Head of the UGCC to Kyiv. The Liturgy was attended by the Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, Bishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, numerous bishops of the UGCC, clergy, monastics, seminarians, and pilgrims. The Ukrainian Youth Association, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, also prayed together with them.
In his sermon, the Head of the UGCC remembered the words of the righteous Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, spoken during two world wars: “Not only in the deep Middle Ages, but most certainly in the future, Ukrainian Kyiv will play a major role, perhaps even a decisive role, for all of Western Europe.”
“He said this at a time,” noted His Beatitude Sviatoslav, “when Kyiv was completely non-Ukrainian, and Ukraine was not on the world map. He spoke of the entity of Ukrainian Kyiv, which will continue to play a major, decisive role even for Western Europe and the whole world. He saw a reunited Kyiv Church, which will become an important Christian center of the future and will decisively impact the Universal Church, East and West.”
“Today, we see with our own eyes that his prophecy is beginning to come true. Especially now, when people are speaking about Kyiv without Kyiv. They are speaking about us without us. But we understand that our struggle and God’s grace granted to us will be decisive for Europe and the whole world,” emphasized the Head of the UGCC.
The power of faith against powerlessness
Reflecting on the Gospel account of the healing of an epileptic boy (Mt 17:14–23), the Primate spoke about the encounter between power and powerlessness. He drew attention to three types of powerlessness: the father who brings his sick son to Jesus, the apostles who thought they could do everything by themselves, and people who seek help anywhere but from God.
“We become an unfaithful and corrupt generation every time we encounter a difficult problem and seek help wherever we please, except from God. We seek out various fortune tellers and psychics, and we seek the influence and support of the powerful of this world,” said the preacher.
“When a person believes in God, they let God’s grace into themselves. A believer accepts this grace from God, which is not static and immovable, but an active force of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Grace acts, motivates, calls, inspires,” explained the Head of the UGCC, quoting the words of the Apostle Paul: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:10).
30 years of the Church’s revival
The centerpiece of the sermon was gratitude to God for 30 years of the revival of the UGCC in central, eastern, southern, and northern Ukraine. His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized that rebuilding the Church is like “moving a mountain,” which is impossible by human strength alone, but possible through God’s grace and the faith of ordinary people.
“The revival of our Church here, in the cradle of Kyiv Christianity, was achieved thanks to faithful people, our lay faithful, who in the 1990s stopped fearing the communist regime and began to search for their Church,” recalled the Primate.
The Head of the UGCC shared a personal memory of how, as a soldier in the Soviet army, he transferred his salary to the account of a parish in Donetsk, which in 1990 had the courage to demand official registration. His Beatitude Sviatoslav also spoke about the hurdles of the revival: “Only through our patience, gentleness, and kindness in the Holy Spirit were we able to overcome mountains of religious prejudice and political manipulation, bureaucratic arbitrariness, and sheer illiteracy. But by the grace of God, we are here today in Kyiv!”
The legacy of Volodymyr’s baptism
His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized that the Kyiv-Vyshhorod Exarchate had gradually been revived, new exarchates had been created, the Kyiv Archeparchy had been restored, and the ancient Kyiv Metropolia had been reestablished as the successor to the Kyiv metropolitans. During the Liturgy, the relics of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Volodymyr were displayed for veneration.
“Today we want to remind ourselves and proclaim to the whole world that we are the Church of Volodymyr’s baptism,” emphasized the Head of the UGCC, recalling Patriarch Lubomyr’s call for “one people of God in the land of the Kyiv mountains” and his appeal to Orthodox brothers to move “from mutual struggle to primacy in love and service to the people.”
His Beatitude Sviatoslav concluded his sermon with a prayer: “Lord, accept our prayers of thanksgiving. Lord, grant a hundredfold to all those who believed and continue to believe that it is You who resurrected our Church on its native Kyiv lands. And Your resurrection has always had and will have a decisive influence on Ukraine, Europe, and the whole world. God, bless our long-suffering homeland, Ukraine, with Your righteous, heavenly peace.”
The UGCC Department for Information
