Video Message of the Head of the UGCC on the 198th Week of the Full-Scale War, November 30, 2025
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
This Sunday marks the 198th week of the full-scale war in Ukraine. We count these weeks as weeks of full-scale invasion, but we know that the war with Russia in Ukraine has been raging for more than 10 years.
Not only was this week marked by tremendous upheaval in Ukraine, but also great heroism; a week of great disappointment and great wisdom among our people.
Sometimes, even in such turbulent circumstances, we believers see the living God present among us in the midst of the most difficult moments in history, and we see that it is precisely then that the Lord God begins to enter into this history and give it new meaning. Therefore, this week in Ukraine was also a week of hope in God’s power, which manifests itself even through our powerlessness, as the Apostle Paul tells us.
There are heavy battles along the entire front line. Today, we are especially concerned about southern Ukraine, about our defenders near the city of Huliaipole in Zaporizhia, as well as our defenders in Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad, Vovchansk, and Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region.
This week saw yet more of Russia’s war crimes against the civilian population. On the night of November 25, our capital city, Kyiv, once again suffered a massive assault. Seven people were killed and dozens were wounded. Yesterday, on the night of November 29, the enemy once again launched a massive attack on Kyiv with various types of weapons.
We embrace those who are suffering. We pray for the eternal repose of those whose lives were cut short in these tragic circumstances. We support all those who are despondent and who have already given up.
And, so we stand! I am sincerely grateful to all those who fought for Ukraine this week. Our military, thanks to whom we are alive, who defended the skies of our cities and villages. Our medics, who saved the lives of so many wounded people. Our rescuers, along with our local and state authorities. Because every strike, every attack on our cities and villages is a test of the strength of our state institutions.
Once again, on behalf of the Ukrainian, suffering yet faithful people—we say to the whole world: Ukraine stands! Ukraine fights! Ukraine prays!
The past week was marked by special events and days that were particularly significant for Catholic bishops in Ukraine, both those of the Byzantine rite of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and our Latin-rite brother bishops. We began the week with spiritual exercises and retreats held at the Marian Center in Zarvanytsia. We concluded these spiritual retreats with our joint fraternal meeting, where, after listening to the Word of God, after prayer and fasting, we were able to reflect and share, coordinating our pastoral steps and plans for serving God and people in need in Ukraine.
The theme of our retreat was a striking perspective. It was about the episcopal vocation and ministry from fishermen to shepherds. However, during our fraternal meeting, we saw how important the voice of the Ukrainian Church is today for those people who need moral and spiritual guidance.
A special event on our spiritual journey was our trip to the wounded city of Ternopil, where we visited not only the locations where Russia’s war crimes took place, but also had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the pain of those who survived this tragedy. We had the opportunity to embrace those who were mourning the recent loss of their children, relatives, and loved ones; to embrace even the state authorities, the mayor, and all those responsible for providing assistance to these people.
It was a time when the community of Ternopil buried the victims of this attack every day. It was very difficult and heartbreaking to see a father holding the coffin of his baby in his arms. And, perhaps for the last time, rocking his child like a cradle as he laid him to rest.
It was our duty as pastors to share the pain of these people. But at the same time, after all these events, we held our regular session of the Synod of Bishops of Ukraine. We tried to focus on the main challenges facing our Church in the socio-political circumstances of Ukraine, at this precarious moment in our history.
The key topic of our Synod was the preparation and support of vocations to the priesthood and monastic life among our people. God sends his workers into his field and grants them vocations. But we, as the Church, must be able to discern, recognize, accept, uphold, and nurture them.
Today, this Sunday, our Church honors Andrew the First-Called, the apostle with whom Christianity is associated on the holy hills of Kyiv.
On this day, a historic meeting took place between Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul, formerly Constantinople. These meetings, these events, these fraternal embraces are experienced in a special way by Christians in Ukraine. Our Church, which prays, witnesses, and even historically suffers for unity among Christians, experiences this in a special way. We accompany the Holy Father with our prayers on his pilgrimage to Nicaea and to long-suffering Lebanon.
But in the tradition of our Church, the feast of St. Andrew the First-Called is a feast of solidarity between our people of God, our monks, nuns, priests, and bishops with the Head of the Church. Today, in all our eparchies and exarchates, we are raising the so-called “Andriyiv Hrish” — funds and material support directed to the Head of the Church as emergency aid to those in urgent need.
I would like to thank all those who, even through their donations, have shown solidarity with the Head of the Church. This may have been one of the manifestations of our common church unity, the unity that is global today and so necessary today for Ukraine to stand firm, for Ukraine to develop, for Ukraine to defeat evil and build a better future.
On this day, through the prayers of St. Andrew, the first of the apostles to be called, whom we refer to as the First-Called, we ask: Lord, bless Ukraine! Stop the war, inspire the hearts and minds of those who seek a peaceful plan to save Ukraine with Your heavenly, peaceful divine light!
God, stop this war! God, wipe away the tears of those who mourn! God, be a comfort and solace to those who suffer! God, bless long-suffering Ukraine with Your righteous, heavenly peace!
The blessing of the Lord be upon you, through His grace and love for mankind, always, now and forever, and for the ages of ages. Amen.
