Video-message of His Beatitude Sviatoslav. June 23. 120 th day of the war

Friday, 24 June 2022, 10:43
Glory to Jesus Christ! Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
Today is Thursday 23 June 2022 and the Ukrainian people have been resisting full-scale Russian aggression for 120 days.
During the last day, heavy fighting has been going on in the Luhansk region and in the north of the Donetsk region. From what we hear from the Ukrainian army, the enemy is attacking Slavyansk, the town where the war against Ukraine began in 2014. The cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk stand with heroic courage. But on such a small piece of land there are concentrated a huge number of troops, air strikes, and all that today destroys and brings death to Ukraine.

Heavy fighting is taking place along the entire front line. The Sumy and Kharkiv regions were actively shelled yesterday. But our particular pain yesterday was our worry about the Ukrainian Mykolayiv, which was massively fired upon by a powerful Russian missile strike.

But Ukraine is standing. Ukraine is fighting. Moreover, we feel that we can truly experience this morning thanks to God's presence among us and thanks to the heroism of the Ukrainian army. That is why this morning we thank the Lord God and the Ukrainian soldiers for their lives.

Today in Ukraine we celebrate one beautiful, big, important holiday, the Feast of the Blessed Eucharist, the Solemn Adoration of the Body and Blood of the Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ. This Holy Sacrament is the core, the culmination of the whole Christian life. In it we have present everything we believe in. Our Lord God Jesus Christ Himself is present in it in a mysterious way. He becomes our nourishment, our strength, and our hope. Today we solemnly celebrate the Sacrament of the Eucharist, but Christians in the East have their own way of celebrating the Holy Eucharist. We do not expose the Eucharist for contemplation, but we encourage our faithful to receive Holy Communion worthily, for which we prepare with repentance, confession, and sincere and deep prayer.

On this day, I want to reflect with you today on another fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is vital, especially for the Ukrainian people today. This fruit of the Holy Spirit is peace. We hear so much about peace. So many different people today are teaching Ukrainians how to put up with their enemy in particular. We are fighting for and defending peace so much today. We teach our youth, our children to be capable of peace and reconciliation. But what exactly are we talking about when we speak of peace as the fruit of the Holy Spirit?

Obviously, this is not about peace as a compromise, about the coordination of certain interests, or peace as a non-aggression pact. When Christ goes to his Passion, He speaks of peace, but which does not come from some earthly factor, earthly calculation, or earthly action. And He speaks of peace, which comes from the Holy Spirit. Before His passions, as the Evangelist John describes to us, Christ promises to send a Comforter, and then says to His disciples: “My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, I give to you." And then, after suffering crucifixion, torment, suffering, death, and resurrection from the dead, He comes to His disciples again, and the first word He says to them is "Peace be with you!" And then the Evangelist John tells us that He breathed on the apostles and says, "Receive the Holy Spirit!"

So peace, as a gift of the Holy Spirit, is synonymous with all fullness. The Lord God created man with certain aspirations. Each of us has certain needs, dreams. Until a person fulfills those aspirations, dreams, desires, he will not have peace. Even when he agrees to peaceful coexistence with his neighbour. Only God Himself can fulfill all the aspirations, dreams, desires, needs of the human person to the end. Thus, when a person in the Holy Spirit finds the fullness of life, the fullness of aspirations, the fulfillment of all his desires in God, only then does he receive peace. But this peace still needs to be accepted. We must understand that no one but God can give peace.
That is why, in our liturgical rite, the sacrament of the Eucharist is so connected with the gift of God's peace. Every time we hear this priest's blessing, "Peace be with you," the mysteries of the Eucharist are among us today.

When Ukraine prays for peace, when she defends this world, she protects the fullness of life, defends the opportunity to live in God and with God. That is why today we want to warn the whole world against the temptation to "pacify the aggressor," because anyone who tries to pacify someone who goes to war with others with the help of various compromises, with the help of various kinds of concessions, only whets his appetite. And this is the devil's way to increase your appetites, needs, despising of others. For he who does not seek God will never find peace.

O God, bless Ukraine. O God, give us Your peace. O God, let us all know that You created us for Yourself, and our hearts are not at rest until they rest in You. Give peace and eternal rest to all those who have given their lives for the homeland, for the peace that could be a necessary condition of life for Ukraine, the Ukrainian people in the future.

O God, bless Ukraine!

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!
 
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