UGCC Head greeted the priests and seminarians who arrived to serve people gathered on the Maidan

“I greet all our priests from various cities and villages who have arrived here in order to be together with their people.  I greet my brethren-seminarians, especially from Lviv Spiritual Seminary who together with their Rector and Vice-Rector came in order to serve the people gathered on the Maidan.  I greet all of you who, possibly, just as Blessed Virgin Mary, left your warm homes and come to the capital of our Ukraine today in order to seek a road to hope, to a better future for our country and our people.”

His Beatitude Sviatoslav reminded all that the Feast of the Presentation at the Temple of the Blessed Mother is one of the 12 greatest Christian holydays in the year.

“This feast focuses our attention on one historical event in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Already at the age of three, she was brought by her parents Joachim and Anna to the temple.  Through this act they wanted to give her to a consecrated service of God.  They were a sterile couple and promised God, that should they have a child, they would offer that child for the service of the Lord,” narrated ion his sermon the Church Primate.

He noted that today we entered this church on a very complicated day in the history of our country.  One can say that today we are filled with mixed feelings.  On the one hand -- a lot of anxiety, on the other hand -- hope“The day which we are living is not only filled with anxiety but also with hope, because in our search as Christians, we are taking a step towards God.  Even in this complex time we are not leaving the path of His commandments – the commandments of love for God and love for one’s neighbor.  In celebrating the feast of the Blessed Virgin, we together with her are making a feast that is beyond aggression, violence, and hatred.  And by our path we are showing the way to all Ukrainian people – which is the path of exit from this complex scenario in which we find ourselves.  There is no other path which we should take, but only the path of Christ’s commandments --that path which in essence is Christ himself.  He said “I am the Way, the Truth, the Life” concluded the Church Head.

He urged all to pray today for Ukraine, to pray for our future – for a European future.  “Just as many centuries ago here, in Kyiv, the Great King Yaroslav the Wise dedicated this land to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, let us do the same today – let us place our land, our people, our nation under the intercession  of the  Mother of God.  And we can be sure that the anxiety will turn into hope,” emphasized the preacher.

His Beatitude Sviatoslav noted that in Greek-Catholic churches there are continuous prayer vigils for a better fate of our Ukrainian people.  Therefore, at the end of the Liturgy in the Patriarchal Cathedral, the faithful prayed Our Father and Hail Mary, Glory to God, and sang the hymn “Oh Lord Almighty and Only.”

Concelebrant with his Beatitude was Bishop Bohdan (Dziurakh), the Secretary of UGCC Synod of Bishops as well as priests from various UGCC eparchies and exarchates in Ukraine.

UGCC Department of Information