Head of the UGCC to Bishop Stepan Sus during the episcopal consecration: We have been killed and crucified many times, but our roots are alive

"As the successor to the apostles, Christ sends you to preach the word of the Gospel, to sanctify the people of God, and to lead them to Christ," added the Primate.

The Liturgy was led by His Beatitude Sviatoslav. Bishop Ihor Voznyak, Metropolitan of Lviv, and Bishop Pavlo Khomnytsky, Eparch of Stamford, became co-consecrators.

At first, Bishop Stepan made a public profession of faith three times. After that, the Rite of Cheirotonia took place, at the conclusion of which he was clothed in the vestments of a bishop. Then His Beatitude Sviatoslav handed over to the Bishop Stepan a pastoral staff as a symbol of his authority.

"There were numerous attempts to eradicate, destroy, and forget our Church, which preserves the heritage of the Church of the First Millennium in full visible communion with the successor of the Apostle Peter. But this Church, like a sprout from the stump of Jesse, is reborn. And we see it today," emphasized the Head of the Church.

According to him, today Ukrainians live in different parts of the world. And sometimes we see the Ukrainian community in the diaspora begin to go through the process of assimilation. "But we hear the assurance today that whatever happens, the remnant of Israel, even in the diaspora, will be preserved by the grace of Christ. And it will be gathered here in our Patriarchal Cathedral ... Today, the Lord God presents to us a fully dedicated person to God,” said the spiritual leader of the Ukrainians.

"Bishop Stepan," the Head of the Church addressed to the newly ordained bishop, "the ways that the Lord has led you to this moment have been amazing. You, as a young priest, have seen how many people are leaving Ukraine today. And you were thinking how to accompany them, how to look for them. You, as the parish priest of the Garrison Temple of Peter and Paul in Lviv, may have heard and seen the cry of the modern Ukrainian Rachel more than all of us, because you were burying those soldiers who now generously sow the Ukrainian land with their bones in the hope of its freedom and independence. Today, God has called you to be the Bishop of the Patriarchal Curia in Kyiv."

It's important that we, as believers, see that even now in certain historical moments, God is personally present.

"Our Church," the spiritual leader emphasized, "feels it is a task to accompany Ukrainians everywhere, wherever they may be. The Head of the Church cannot be on all continents at the same time. Therefore, God sends me a helper who will proclaim with me the Good News that God is with us, that  the newborn Christ is the source of revival, renewal, and hope of the Ukrainian Church and the Ukrainian people."

The Primate considers today's event a historic one that gives us hope and joy that there is no such human force on earth that could rewrite God's prophecy. "The last word in history belongs to God, the Creator and Savior, who came to us in His Nativity as a little child,” assured the Head of the UGCC.

The UGCC Department for Information