Video-message of His Beatitude Sviatoslav. June 13. 110 th day of the war

Today is Monday 13 June 2022 and Ukraine is already experiencing 110 days of this bloody war, a nationwide opposition to Russian aggression.

We thank God and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, that we can see the dawn of a new day. Again last night the whole east of our homeland was on fire. Heavy fighting is taking place along the entire front line. The most difficult, again as in previous days, is in the Luhansk region. The enemy hurls the remnants of all his forces into the Ukrainian Luhansk region in order to achieve at least some semblance of victory. Thanks to the courage of the sons and daughters of Ukraine on the 110th day of this war, the enemy did not achieve any of the goals he set for himself.

But the heart aches the most for the lost human lives, for the innocently killed civilian women and children, for all those who suffer so badly from this Russian aggression, who suffer from cruelty, inhumane behaviour, who suffer from the war that sows and brings death.

Today, I would like to especially thank the Holy Father, Pope Francis, for calling on the conscience of people around the world yesterday, as we celebrated Pentecost, not to get used to war! One must not get used to war, because such habituation leads to the silence of war crimes and such habituation kills. Today we know that news of the war from Ukraine ceases to be news and disappears from newspaper columns and other media.

But let the whole world hear: Ukraine is standing, Ukraine is fighting! And receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit, renewing His presence among us, Ukraine is praying for peace as never before, prays to the Holy Spirit as the bearer of peace.

Today, on this second day of the "green" Feast of Pentecost, the day immediately following Pentecost, our liturgical tradition draws our attention to the person of the Holy Spirit, to the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. On the one hand, the Holy Spirit is the closest of us to the three persons of God. We live and act in Him as Christians. We cannot do anything worthwhile unless it is in cooperation with the work of the divine Holy Spirit Himself, and on the other hand we know so little about Him. You can know Him as a person only through the experience of His presence with us. And we know that the Holy Spirit is first and foremost the Spirit who gives life.

Therefore, in our particular Ukrainian liturgical tradition, we use the colour green to celebrate Pentecost, and the people call this feast "green holidays." We adorn our shrines with greenery, the vestments of the priests are green, in order to show that the Holy Spirit, this life-giving breath of God, is the life-giving force that sustains us in life. The Holy Spirit is therefore the Spirit of Peace, the Spirit of God's Peace, because He reveals to the human person God's plan for him, God's plan which is always the plan of peace, harmony, beauty, and eternal life. And he who starts a war, rebels against God's plan. And this divine life-giving power, with which the Apostles were clothed from on high in Jerusalem, continues to live in the body of our Church and our people.

That is why today we ask: O Holy Spirit, clothe Your defenders with the power from on high, the defenders of Ukraine as defenders of peace! O God, O Holy Spirit, make us bearers, builders of Your peace, which You bring to us! O Holy Spirit, come down to the sea of ​​death brought to Ukraine by the Russian invader, grant us a sea of ​​life that comes only from you! Breathe your life-giving breath into Ukraine and the whole world. And renew through Yourself, O Holy Spirit, the face of the earth today!

May the blessing of the Lord be upon you through His grace and love of humankind, always, now and ever, and for ages of ages. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

+ Sviatoslav