“In today’s world, it is difficult to be young, and it is all the more difficult to be a young Christian,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav

Thursday, 25 April 2013, 07:52
“In today’s world, it is difficult to be young, and it is all the more difficult to be a young Christian. Persecutions were always intrinsic to the life of the Church, but in today’s western world they have changed -- they have become more refined and more hidden -- and thereby, no less threatening and destructive. Often a young person is embarrassed to speak about being Christian, fearing ridicule.” UGCC Primate His Beatitude Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) stated this in his traditional annual Epistle on the Occasion of Youth Day, which in UGCC is celebrated on Palm Sunday.

“In today’s world, it is difficult to be young, and it is all the more difficult to be a young Christian.  Persecutions were always intrinsic to the life of the Church, but in today’s western world they have changed -- they have become more refined and more hidden -- and thereby, no less threatening and destructive. Often a young person is embarrassed to speak about being Christian, fearing ridicule.”  UGCC Primate His Beatitude Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) stated this in his traditional annual Epistle on the Occasion of Youth Day, which in UGCC is celebrated on Palm Sunday.

His Beatitude Sviatoslav advises youth to remember that authentic “life success comes neither from society, nor politics, nor economics, but from God.  It is exactly He who is the true goal of a human life.”

“In all our human searches and struggles, it is most important is to discover and find the real goal of our life, so that we do not fritter it away on trivialities, -- a goal which corresponds to the greatness of the dignity and the greatness of the calling of a human person,” explains the epistle.

In the document, UGCC Head notes that today’s Ukrainian youth is deeply disappointed and does not trust the state, often cannot find its place in life nor moral directives.  According to His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the cause of such deep disappointment is the loss of a sense of confidence – both internal and external. .

“What, if not a deep faith in God, can restore this confidence?  For it is exactly faith that makes the great goal accessible to a young person – the person of the living Christ,” argues the leader of Greek-Catholics.

The Church Primate remembers the words of Patriarch Josyf, which are relevant even today:  “To be inspired by the great, the lofty and at the same time to have in front of one’s eyes a dignified goal – that in itself lifts the person up…    The great does not dim the view through meaningless trivia, but rather it expands one’s view…   Christ’s program is a program for eternity, which lifts the person up so high where no one is higher.”

“These words were written long ago in 1957, at a time when our Church was in the catacombs, the Metropolitan himself was a prisoner of soviet camps, and the people to whom he directed his epistle felt that they were turned-about screws of a gigantic machine, slaves of the communist system.  The relevance of these words has not diminished today, when Ukrainian society truly needs changes,” assures His Beatitude Sviatoslav.

The moving force of any society, claims the document author, is youth with their instinctive passion for truth, justice and freedom, while simultaneously being the most sensitive to external and internal factors. “Therefore, of paramount importance, is a unity around genuine values,” advises UGCC Church Primate.

“I wish you, dear young friends, to conclude Great Lent in such a manner that “Christ through faith inhabits your hearts,” and that you, confident and strengthened by divine love, will be graced by that paschal joy and the experience of divine greatness and glory, which the Savior demonstrated to us in the sacrament of his passion and resurrection,” wishes youth the Church Head.

UGCC Department of Information

 

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