“Be fast to love and forgiveness, yet slow to judgment”: Head of the UGCC to Bishop Peter Holiney
Bishop Petro, when you feel exhausted — and this moment will come — when the heaviest moment of darkness, trial, when you ask what to do, how to perform further to fulfill the mission of the episcopal ministry, remember these words of God: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the UGCC, addressed the newly ordained Bishop Petro Holiney, Auxiliary Bishop of the Kolomyia Eparchy of the UGCC, during the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with the rite of his episcopal ordination in the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Kolomyia on August 20, 2023.
Bishops and priests from different parts of Ukraine, including Transcarpathia and the United States, as well as representatives of the Latin rite, arrived for the ordination.
The Hierarchical Liturgy was presided over by His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the main consecrator. Bishop Vasyl Ivasyuk, Eparch of Kolomyia, and Bishop Dionysius Liakhovych, Apostolic Exarch in Italy, were the co-consecrators.
In his sermon, the Head of the Church emphasized that today’s Gospel passage (Matthew 18:23–35), which reveals God who is Love, painting an icon of the merciful face of God the Father, who has mercy and forgives man, shows especially the triple mission of the ministry of the bishop, the successor of the apostles: to preach, sanctify and administer.
Commenting on this passage, the bishop noted that to explain the greatness and immensity of God’s love, the Gospel gives us today a parable that ends with a word about forgiveness — about the Kingdom of Heaven, which is like a master who comes to settle accounts with his servant. “This is the image of human salvation! God saves us from our liabilities to Him. God forgives more than we can return to Him. Because His love is greater than our ability to sin and be guilty before Him,” he said.
Citing St. John Chrysostom, the Primate stated that every person should take two lessons from this parable. First, if you confess your sin, the Lord God will forgive you, no matter how great it is in your eyes. The second is that if you want God to forgive you, forgive your neighbors. “God’s love is immense, but sometimes a person’s ability to accept it, and even more so to grow in it, to share it, is limited. This is what the Gospel of the Beatitudes tells us: ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy,’” the Head of the UGCC emphasized.
Therefore, the Head of the UGCC emphasized that the new bishop, whom the Lord sends, perhaps in the most harrowing historical period for our Church and the Ukrainian people, is a sign that He gives us today as an answer at a time when we ask: God, do You still love us? Where are You? Show Yourself alive! Let us feel the power of Your invincible love for us! Let us feel the energy that will allow us to survive amidst the dehumanizing circumstances of life!
The Primate recalled the mission of the triple ministry of the bishop: “Every Christian believer, in particular the successor of the apostles, has to preach the Word of God, to teach, to sanctify God’s people, to infuse them with the Holy Spirit, and to administer — to guide the human heart, soul, and community of the Church, directing it to the Source of life and salvation — to God.”
According to the Head of the Church, today’s Gospel reveals the meaning and mission of this triple form of ministry in a special way. “Poor is the bishop who does not know how to forgive his neighbors! Poor is the bishop who is unaware of his own sin.”
Happy is the bishop, the Primate continued, who feels the depth of God’s love, the treasure greater than ten thousand talents. “Happy is the bishop who feels like a great sinner who has received immeasurable forgiveness. The Lord calls sinful people to whom He forgives their sins. But the consciousness of the forgiveness and love received must be a pledge, a treasure that must be constantly circulated and shared.”
His Beatitude Sviatoslav noted that today God’s people in Ukraine primarily need not judges and accountants but a father who would love them, especially now, when they suffer the most.
“Dear brother in the episcopate, dear Bishop Petro, today we are sending you to serve as an auxiliary bishop to Bishop Vasyl, as one who will preach and reveal God’s mercy to his people. Most of all, we ask you to be aware of your own weakness. Be quick to love and forgive but very slow to judge! Love your ruling bishop Vasyl! Your love will bring him back to his feet even more than he is on his feet today,” the Patriarch addressed the newly ordained Bishop Petro.
“Dear Bishop Petro,” the patriarch continued, “today you are joining the flock of the Synod of Bishops of our Church. The bishop is a member of the family, the college of successors of the apostles. Today you become a member of the family, the college of successors of the apostles of the Ivano-Frankivsk Metropolia. Your metropolitan is present here today, who knows this eparchy, assembling a team of courageous bishops of the Ivano-Frankivsk and Bukovyna regions. Create a united team, and support each other. Then our Church here will be truly invincible. Today, The martyred Church is the hope of victory for the Ukrainian people and will shine as a torch of truth.”
At the end of the Liturgy, the Father and Head of the UGCC congratulated the ruling Bishop of the Kolomyia Eparchy, Vasyl Ivasyuk, on his return to ministry after a long treatment. He noted that he knew how the faithful of the Kolomyia Eparchy prayed for their Bishop and waited for him. “I am glad that this time has come. Today, Bishop, we look at you and see that there is a power that can overcome everything: weakness and disease. This power is the love of God for man and man for God. We know how much you love God, your Church, and your diocese, and how much you wanted to conquer everything to be with us today. The Lord God heard you and allowed you to lay his mighty right hand on the head of his deputy. We wish you God’s blessing, good health, wisdom, and great love for your auxiliary Bishop for many blessed years.”
In the end, the Father and Head of the UGCC recalled his first meeting with Bishop Petro Holiney in the tiny house of the rector of the underground seminary, Fr. Mykhailo Kosyl, rector of the underground seminary. Then the priest shared with the congregation his memories of the diaconal ordination of the present bishop, which he received at the age of 19.
“We did not know when our Church would come out of the underground, nor did we know that the Lord would entrust me to put you on the path of episcopal ministry. We rejoice that God guided you through those difficult years of life and ministry. We thank you for your courage to say yes to Him, after which on July 12, on the day of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, when Ukraine celebrates this holiday for the last time according to the Julian calendar, on the day of your name day and golden 50th anniversary, the whole world learned about the approval and blessing by Pope Francis of the decision of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC to elect Father Peter as the new bishop. These are wonderful works and signs of God. We rejoice and sincerely congratulate you today, dear bishop.”
The UGCC Department for Information
