“The oath of allegiance to Christ means defeating the enemy who seeks to take our lives” — His Beatitude Sviatoslav at the UYC Congress
Today, every young Ukrainian and every Ukrainian woman must understand that in the face of this all-out war of Russia against Ukraine, the oath of allegiance to Christ means more than wisdom, knowledge, strength, and fortitude. It means victory over evil, our enemy who wants to take our lives. Today we want to feel that God’s power, the ability to win, vibrates in the body of our people and our Church. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the UGCC, said this in his sermon during the Divine Liturgy on the 90th anniversary of the Ukrainian Youth for Christ movement.
Within the UYC Congress in Lviv, the Primate greeted the youth and recalled how, 90 years ago, the righteous Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky united Ukrainian youth who had devoted their lives to Christ, defying the human ideologies of the time.
“At a time when various human ideologies — Nazism, communism, chauvinism, even extreme nationalism, etc. — demanded that a young person swear an oath to give his life for that ideology, and called for the death of those who were enticed by it, the righteous Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky gathered Ukrainian youth and showed them the only one to whom they should give their lives, devoting them to the Lord Jesus Christ, even to death. Our righteous metropolitan offered our youth to dedicate their lives not to some human ideology but to the Son of God,” the Hierarch emphasized.
Apart from that, His Beatitude Sviatoslav explained to the Ukrainian youth what it means to consecrate one’s life to Christ and take an oath of allegiance to Him. According to the Primate, every time we seek truth and justice in the world, we seek Jesus Christ; every time we want to be wise, we seek Jesus Christ; every time we try to be real people, we seek Jesus Christ, because it was He who combined in His Divine Person both the fullness of the deity and the fullness of the human being.
Congratulating the youth of UYC, the Archbishop wished that this Christian youth movement would touch the hearts of girls and boys in our Church throughout the world.
The UGCC Department for Information
