“When We Stop Praying, We Lose Our Spiritual Life,” Bishop Andriy Khimyak on the 5th Anniversary of “Rosary Unites”
On November 2, the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv celebrated the fifth anniversary of the prayer initiative “Rosary Unites,” which gathers thousands of Ukrainians in common prayer every evening. Before the chanted rosary prayer began, Bishop Andriy Khimyak, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archeparchy of Kyiv, addressed the faithful with a spiritual message.
At the beginning, the bishop thanked everyone who has participated in the communal prayer over the years and emphasized that this day is neither a beginning nor an end, but “another step in our long prayer marathon.”
“Thank you for praying to God every day, for loving Him, His Mother—the Blessed Virgin Mary—our people, our Church, and for praying for one another. May the Lord hear this prayer, may it be the one that ascends to heaven, because prayer is a special union between human beings and God,” said Bishop Andriy.
The bishop also compared prayer to breath, without which life is impossible: “Some call prayer the breath of life, and this is indeed so, because when we stop breathing, we stop living. Similarly, when we stop praying, we stop living spiritually.”
He recalled the words of Cardinal Tomáš Špidlík, who said that the question “Why do we pray?” is similar to the question “Why does a bird sing?”—because it is in its nature. ‘When we pray, we truly reveal our human nature, reflecting God’s image and likeness in ourselves.’
“But what should our prayer be like? How do we experience it?” the bishop asked those present. “Our lives are full of challenges: in the morning, during the day, in the evening, and sometimes even at night, when alarms, rockets, or ‘shaheds’ fly over our heads, we think we have time to reflect on everything—ourselves, our loved ones, unresolved matters—but often we lack time for prayer. It is good that we have the ‘Rosary Unites’ initiative, when we can dedicate at least 20–30 minutes to God. Our life consists of days, hours, and minutes. Each day has 1,440 minutes, but how many of them do we devote to prayer?”
The bishop also noted that, sadly, for many Christians, prayer is reduced to a few hurried minutes in the morning and a short appeal to God before bedtime: “I call this the prayer of haste and the prayer of fatigue. On average, they take no more than ten minutes a day—which is less than one percent of the time we give to God.”
According to Bishop Andriy, prayer is the breath of life without which a Christian cannot exist spiritually: “When we lack air, we feel how badly we long to breathe. But do we have the same thirst for spiritual breath? Only then is our life filled with true vibrancy. We, as the Gospel says, are branches on the tree of Christ. If these branches are not connected to the tree, they wither. So it is with us: if we do not nurture a deep connection with the Lord God, we wither, even though outwardly we appear alive and well; our days pass, but inside we dry up.”
The bishop noted that the communal evening rosary on Zhyve TV has become a powerful source of unity for tens of thousands of worshippers. “Every evening, as His Beatitude Sviatoslav said, between 18,000 and 20,000 people pray together online. This is a large spiritual army that stands in prayer for Ukraine’s victory and the coming of a just peace.”
He also emphasized that this prayer sustains our people even in the most difficult times: “We believe that prayer is our spiritual sword and wall that protects us from evil. The war we are enduring is not only a struggle between two states, but above all a struggle between good and evil. And we believe that through prayer, good will have the last word.”
Reflecting on the history of the rosary, Bishop Andriy explained that it arose from Christians’ desire to “pray at all times.” “The rosary prayer combines the ‘Our Father’ and ‘Hail Mary’ with meditation on the mysteries of the life of Jesus Christ. It is a prayer in which we live through the entire history of salvation—from the Annunciation to the Resurrection and the glorification of the Mother of God,” he noted.
“When we turn to Mary as our heavenly Mother, we can be certain that we will not perish. She leads us to Christ and helps us persevere in goodness,” added Bishop Andriy, calling on the faithful to strengthen their faith through daily prayer.
In conclusion, he recalled the words of Patriarch Lubomyr Husar, spoken at the end of his life: “I regret only one thing—that I did not pray enough.” “This is a spiritual testament for all of us, so that we will not one day tell the Lord that we wasted our time, for it cannot be regained. Therefore, let us sanctify each day with prayer, remembering the words: ‘Pray at all times,’” Bishop Khimyak urged.
The celebration concluded with a chanted rosary performed by the Osanna choir from Christ the King Parish, which accompanied the prayer with solemn singing.
The prayer initiative “Rosary Unites” was launched on October 14, 2020, with the blessing of His Beatitude Sviatoslav. Since then, the Zhyve TV team has conducted more than 1,500 prayer broadcasts from 50 countries around the world.
The most active participants in this joint prayer have been believers from Italy, the United States, Poland, and Lviv.
Despite the hardships of war, disruptions in communication, and the danger of shelling, participants have continued to pray every evening at 8:00 p.m. Kyiv time—for peace, for soldiers, prisoners, and the families of those who have fallen.
