His Beatitude Sviatoslav: the Church's first response to a pandemic is prayer

 The Head of the UGCC noted that we, as Christians, are convinced that God's providence governs the world. 

 “I would rather see this pandemic as a new stage in humanity's maturation.  It is interesting that an invisible fragment of DNA or RNA has brought to its knees the whole modern way of communication between people: it has caused the collapse of stock markets, immobilized entire continents and countries.  We have all begun to rethink our lifestyle.  According to our calendar, the pandemic coincided with the Lent.  This is a time when spiritual teachers of the Church encourage people to stop, rethink their way of living, take a deep examination of conscience,” he said.

The Head of the UGCC stressed that during the quarantine, Christians pray first of all: “Prayer is the Church's first response to the pandemic.  This is how we communicate with God, who is the source of our lives.  We ask Him ‘why?’  And we are trying to hear the answer."

 “The answer I have heard,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav, “is such that it is very important to be wrong for the development of our spiritual life.  In this way, we gain experience, which will protect us in the future.”

 In his view, today, for the first time, society is learning to be a global community and we feel great vulnerability because of this .  However, in the current situation, society has a chance to learn how to be mature and responsible for oneself and one's neighbor.

 “In this way, God is forcing us to be adults.  Only then we will be able to get over any cataclysms, epidemics, and everything related to the global stage of human development,” summed up the spiritual leader of the Greek Catholics.

  The UGCC Department for Information