Video Message of the Head of the UGCC on the 205th Week of the Full-Scale War, January 18, 2026
Christ is born!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
The 205th week of Russia’s war against Ukraine is coming to an end. This week was probably one of the most severe since the start of the full-scale invasion. This week will go down in history as the moment when, in the depths of winter, with temperatures plummeting to around minus 20 degrees every night, the Ukrainian government declared a state of emergency in the energy sector. The Ukrainian authorities have confirmed that Every power plant in our country has been attacked. Over the past year, 612 missile strikes and various drone attacks on our power plants have almost completely destroyed our ability to generate energy. The Russians are trying to do everything possible to bring Ukraine to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe in the midst of the war.
In fact, energy experts say that no one in the world has ever faced such a situation. The authorities of the city of Kyiv, which found itself at the epicenter of these vicious attacks, are considering the possibility of evacuating the population from our capital.
In such circumstances, our Church is indeed attempting to do everything possible to save human lives. Our Patriarchal Cathedral, which serves as a shelter, has become a place of warmth and light where Kyiv residents can find comfort even in the darkness, receive warm meals, access the internet, and charge their power banks and mobile phones. We are trying to provide hot meals every day and deliver them to places where people suffer most from the cold and the inability to prepare food for themselves.
The situation that the city of Kyiv is currently experiencing is a moment of profound hope in God, hope for the true good found in the human heart.
We would like to once again express our gratitude to our energy workers, who are doing everything they can to deliver life-saving electricity to our homes. Currently, about 100 high-rise buildings in Kyiv are still completely blacked out. We want to urge everyone, especially parents, to be very attentive to their children. Due to the extreme cold and darkness, we are seeing a new type of trauma, particularly among children: psychological trauma, because children are not always prepared to live in a blackout.
May the light of our hearts shine in these extraordinary circumstances!
The Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, compared the circumstances we experienced this week to the famine of the 1930s. Indeed, even due to the lack of electricity, some of our bakeries are unable to bake enough bread to feed our people.
This week, the statistics of the international monitoring report of the Mission for Human Rights and Civilian Protection were published, stating that last year was the deadliest year since the start of the full-scale invasion. The number of war victims, civilian war victims, increased by 31 % compared to last year. Compared to 2023, the number of victims has increased by 70 %.
In such circumstances, we try to serve God and people so that we do not lack this inner Christian resilience in such extraordinary circumstances.
But despite everything, we want the voice of Ukraine to be heard once again across the world! This week, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations appealed to the international religious community to save lives in Ukraine and stop the aggressor’s deadly hand.
Let the world hear once again today that Ukraine stands, Ukraine fights, Ukraine prays!
This week, a landmark event in our history took place here in Kyiv, at our Patriarchal Center. As we marked the Sunday of the Word of God, we presented the Ukrainian-language edition of the Jerusalem Bible. This event was the crowning achievement of more than 20 years of work by our biblical scholars, translators, and editors, who made the modern accomplishments of Catholic biblical scholarship accessible to Ukrainian-speaking readers.
The Jerusalem Bible, which was first published in Jerusalem in 1958, has undergone several editions and is now available to Ukrainian readers. The Ukrainian edition draws on Father Ivan Khomenko’s translation of the Holy Scriptures, which remains the standard Ukrainian biblical text, while incorporating the critical apparatus of the Jerusalem Bible.
Today, Ukrainian readers who read Khomenko’s Ukrainian-language translation of the Bible can benefit from the critical apparatus of the Jerusalem Bible. The text follows the structure, references, parallel passages, and chronological tables of this best Catholic edition of the Holy Scriptures.
Today, we feel that the Holy Scriptures have truly become closer to Ukrainian-speaking readers, and we have the chance to become closer to the Word of God.
With the publication of the Jerusalem Bible in Ukrainian, this Sunday we enter the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The Holy Scriptures are a common source of faith for all Christians of different denominations. This week of prayer for unity among Christians has been prepared in collaboration with the Armenian Apostolic Church.
We feel that in such dark times, the light of God’s Word gives us hope, shows us the way to the future, and makes us better people and better Christians. Today, we pray together and work to serve those who need it most, especially in the circumstances of the enormous humanitarian crisis caused by this war.
Today, we pray once again: God, bless Ukraine! Lord, in your word, you are our light, our illumination. We believe that you are present in every human suffering. Today, we feel that you are suffering from the cold and darkness in the body of the Ukrainian people.
Bless this nation 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.
Christ is born!
