Video Message of the Head of the UGCC on the 201st Week of the Full-Scale War, December 21, 2025
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
This Sunday marks the 201st week of the devastating war in Ukraine. We are once again counting the days and nights, weeks and months that claim new victims in Ukraine. Human blood is shed every day. Every day, the enemy launches new massive attacks across Ukraine.
This week, we prayed especially for our soldiers near Pokrovsk and Huliaipole in Zaporizhzhia, near Myrnohrad in Donetsk, and near Kupiansk in our Kharkiv region. We see that the enemy has begun to change its tactics and every night chooses a new victim among our peaceful cities.
This week, our Odessa and our Black Sea coast also became targets. After massive, targeted, nighttime attacks, Odessa was in complete blackout for several days. People were deprived of light and heat on the Black Sea coast.
Just yesterday, the enemy attacked the port infrastructure, and we know that about ten people were killed and about thirty were injured after just one such massive strike. The crossing points between Ukraine and Moldova were damaged. Even on the bridge, a peaceful family was deliberately attacked as they were crossing the Dniester River in their car. A woman and her children were killed.
We do everything we can to save human lives even in such emergency situations. We are opening centers of resilience so that where it is cold, we can warm each other; where it is dark, we can fill each other with light.
Today, we want the world to show solidarity with Ukraine once again, especially when negotiations are underway on the so-called peace plan to end this war. We want the powerful of this world to feel the pain and suffering of ordinary Ukrainians. We want peace that is not just a signed piece of paper, but a space where we can live, have warmth, light, a future, be protected, and have the opportunity to build our lives.
Today, we say to the whole world: Ukraine stands, Ukraine fights, Ukraine prays!
This week, the attention of our Church was focused on France, on the city of Paris, where this Friday, for the first time in the history of our Church, the episcopal consecration of a Ukrainian bishop took place. Bishop Ihor Rantsya was called by the Church to the episcopal ministry and took office as the ruling bishop of our Parisian Eparchy of St. Volodymyr the Great, which, in addition to France, cares for our faithful in Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.
The consecration of the new bishop was a special moment of communion, a moment when the Ukrainian Church in Paris could speak out, speak to French society, speak to the Catholic Church in this country, and also to the entire French-speaking world through the presentation of our French-language publications, through communication with journalists and representatives of state authorities, intellectuals, leaders of public organizations and communities, not only Ukrainian, but also French.
We pray especially for the new Bishop Ihor, whom God has called to lead the eparchy where he has served as a priest for 10 years. We also want to thank the French episcopate, which welcomed our young bishop into the Episcopal Conference. After finishing his doctoral studies in ecumenism, he can do so much to build relationships between Christians. And for us in Ukraine, it’s so important that the voice of the Ukrainian people be heard loud and clear in Paris today.
Paris is traditionally called the European capital of nations, where various cultures, diverse opinions, various ideas, as well as various religious communities, national cultures, and different Churches meet. And Ukraine will be present at this modern Areopagus of Europe. May God bless our Church!
We thank all those who will support Bishop Ihor, and we assure you that the Ukrainian Church will always be with its people, wherever God calls and scatters this people today. “Your Church is always and everywhere with you.” This is our motto of pastoral care among our people outside the borders of Ukraine.
But today we are looking to the future. Christmas is four days away. According to the liturgical preparation of our Church, we are in the days leading up to the Nativity of Christ. This Sunday before Christmas conveys to us the dynamics of the universe’s preparation for the incarnation of its Creator in human flesh.
We feel how the whole world has come alive. Wise men from distant lands are already traveling to Bethlehem, following the star. The Holy Family—Mary and Joseph—have set out on their journey to Bethlehem and are knocking on various doors, looking for a place for the Son of God to be born.
So, in these days, let us not sit idly by, listening to the heartbeat of the world and the motion of cosmic forces. Let us also set ourselves moving in order to complete our spiritual preparation for Christmas.
I congratulate you all on this coming great holiday! In Christ’s Nativity, the Son of God becomes one of us. He is incarnated in the pain and suffering of Ukraine. He is truly present in our wounds. But He brings the hope of heavenly light to where there is darkness. And where war rages today, He brings heavenly peace.
We implore Him: Lord, come, stop the war, and bless the children of 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.
