The Sisters Servants Show Us the Essence of Our Church: Head of the UGCC in the 125th week of the war
I invite everyone to join the common rosary with the Sisters of the Congregation of Sisters Servants, which will be held every Wednesday as part of the prayer “Rosary Unites.” His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said this in his traditional military address on the 125th week of confrontation with the Russian occupiers, who are attempting to attack Ukrainian positions along the entire front line.
The Primate noted that the number of attacks by the Russian enemy has escalated this week, and not only on the front line. The enemy mercilessly shells Kharkiv and the south of Ukraine…
But against all odds, Ukraine is wounded but unconquered, exhausted but irresistible. It is still standing, fighting, and praying!
His Beatitude Sviatoslav recalled that this week we experienced a long-awaited meeting with our confessors of faith, Fathers Bohdan Geleta and Ivan Levytsky, who, after their release, are still under the supervision of doctors, state services, and investigative bodies.
Earlier this week, the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate began its jubilee year to mark the 90th anniversary of the canonical unification of sisters from different parts of the world into one community of consecrated life. This event, according to the Primate, is emblematic, because in the example of the Congregation of Sisters Servants, we witness today what our Church is like, the largest Eastern Catholic Church of Kyivan Christianity, which now unites the global Ukrainian community.
“This unity,” explained His Beatitude Sviatoslav, “according to the new constitution, came 90 years ago. The sisters performed a symbolic act. They took off their wedding rings, which they received when they took their eternal vows, and melted them into a Eucharistic chalice, a chalice meant for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. This symbolized that they are one global community of the Eastern Catholic Church.”
Why is this celebration so important for all of us? “This Congregation,” said the spiritual leader, “was founded in 1892 in Galicia as a response to the social needs of the Ukrainian people of that time. Our nuns began to serve their people where there was the greatest need (according to the current motto of the Congregation), specifically where there were poor, abandoned, and forsaken by the Austrian Empire of that time. The Ukrainians of Galicia received prayerful women, teachers, and caregivers.”
The UGCC Department for Information
