Video-message of His Beatitude Sviatoslav. May 9. 75th day of war

Today is Monday 9 May 2022 and Ukraine is already experiencing 75 days of open military aggression by this terrible, bloody war between Russia and Ukraine.

Again, during this night and the last day, many casualties in Ukraine were caused by Russian weapons. In the Luhansk region in the town of Bilohorka, an entire school was destroyed, killing about 60 people. Rockets were fired at eastern, central, and southern Ukraine. They say that the enemy is preparing for an offensive in the direction of Donetsk.

The war is continuing, it is developing with all its horror, bringing new, horrible sacrifices. But the Ukrainian people are standing. The Ukrainian people are fighting. The Ukrainian people are praying for their army and state. And Ukrainians are trying to help, to serve each other.

Today I want to reflect on another work of charity for the body of one’s neighbour, which is very important for us to feel solidarity with those who are in the greatest distress today. This work of charity is like this: “To clothe the naked.” We have seen how during the bombing, during the shelling, people lost everything in an instant. They could only leave their house with their bare hands. They could not take with them anything they had acquired during their lives. We saw people in our communities walking with their families, almost barefoot, in the middle of the cold season of the year, not even having anything to wear. And that is why our task, the task of every good person, is to clothe the naked, especially in the context of war.

To clothe the naked also means to feel their dignity, because clothing has always, in particular in the context of Scripture, been associated with a certain human dignity. And thus, to serve a person with clothes means to honour them as a person.

I want to thank very much today all those who really sacrificed and sacrifice for the least, in order to clothe naked, in particular, for those who lost all their property. When we do good deeds for our neighbour, we truly feel that we already have a reward from the Lord God. Because as you share something, such as clothing, be assured that the Lord God will reward you a hundredfold. And you will never feel the cold or all the discomforts of nakedness.

O God, bless Ukraine! O God, help us to save her children! O God, repay a hundredfold all the people of the world who sympathize with Ukraine today and who pray for all of us! O God, take under Your special care those who have lost their home, their residence, their property! Let them find among their brothers and sisters the necessary support, shelter, warm clothes, and everything they need in order to continue to journey along the roads of this life! O God, bless us all!

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.

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!