“Christ nourishes us all with his victory—Head of the UGCC during the All-Ukrainian Patriarchal Pilgrimage in Krylos
I ask all pilgrims: do not return home without coming to confession. Leave here the stones of your soul, your burdens, and perhaps your doubts. Be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, with which He conquers your sin—the sin that humiliates and enslaves you.
Today we invite you all to taste the bread that Christ will bless and transform into His Body and Blood. For the real essence of every pilgrimage is communion with the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of our Savior. It is from there that the source of immortality flows — the source of victory for God’s people.
This was emphasized by Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, during the All-Ukrainian Patriarchal Pilgrimage to the Miraculous Icon of the Mother of God of Halych, patroness of the Halych region, which took place today, August 3, 2025, on the eighth Sunday after Pentecost, in the village of Krylos within the Jubilee Year of Hope.
About 15,000 pilgrims took part in the pilgrimage.
The Head of the Church was concelebrated by archbishops of the UGCC and numerous clergy. Thousands of faithful, young people, children, representatives of the authorities, defenders of Ukraine, as well as relatives of heroes took part in the pilgrimage.
At the beginning of his sermon, the Primate emphasized that Krylos is a source of strength for the people. “Today, once again, the Lord God has called us here—to this nationw place of strength, where the princely spring flows from the depths of our history. This place is the cornerstone of our spiritual, national, and ecclesiastical identity. Here we draw strength from our heritage. We have come to the Mother of God of Krylos, who has been listening to, embracing, and uplifting her people for centuries. But most of all, it is Christ Himself who speaks to us today with His life-giving word,” he emphasized.
Commenting on the Gospel account (Matthew 14:14–22) about the multiplication of loaves, the preacher pointed to three key gestures of Jesus Christ: He saw, He had compassion, He healed: “Christ saw—He sees each of us, even more deeply than we see ourselves. Christ had compassion—the power of merciful love flows from Him. Christ healed—the result of His gaze and mercy is healing, action.”
The Primate then explained in greater depth the meaning of Christ’s action in feeding His people. He assured us that the Lord understands our hunger because He Himself experienced it when He was tempted in the desert. There, the devil tempted Him to turn stones into bread, but Jesus overcame the devil’s temptation with the words of the Holy Scriptures from the Old Testament: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). “It is important to understand that the true nourishment of man is the word of God, which is transformed into all kinds of nourishment and needs that man has,” he said.
When Christ multiplies the loaves, He does not simply give food. He feeds people with His victory over all evil forces. “Christ satisfies manʼs hunger and thirst for the one God, in whom there is power, victory, freedom, and eternal life,” the bishop assured, recalling the gesture of blessing and breaking bread as a foreshadowing of the Last Supper and every Divine Liturgy, as well as the disciples as mediators of Godʼs power, who transmit it to the people.
The Patriarch is convinced that since Christ gives His power through the Church and through the Sacraments, His victory is now within our reach. Moreover, He nourishes us all with this victory.
“In times of war, we sometimes experience personal moral, spiritual, and physical desolation. War devastates and destroys not only cities and villages, but also people and their hearts… Now Christ will come to feed us with His victory, to restore our strength, to show us the source from which each of us can draw strength,” emphasized His Beatitude Sviatoslav, addressing all the pilgrims with a call to approach Confession and Communion. According to him, this experience was the source of strength for our underground Church: priests served even in camps and prisons, and the Church fed the people with the Eucharist—and this gave it resilience, immortality, and the strength to win.
The Father and Head of the UGCC affirmed that all pilgrims on this pilgrimage are pilgrims of hope: “Within the Jubilee Year of Hope, the ‘doors of hope’ are open in this church. Those who have confessed, received Communion, and passed through them will receive a plenary indulgence, complete liberation from everything that enslaves us, burdens us, and takes away our strength.” “Today you will return home filled with God’s power, the grace of the Holy Spirit, the power of victory, which is called to be manifested in your daily, personal, national, and public life,” said the Head of the Church.
The Primate recalled that this year the Church and the people are celebrating the 160th anniversary of the birth of the righteous Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, a figure who has only “grown” over the years, and whose words are a true prophecy about the Church and Ukraine.
In conclusion, His Beatitude Sviatoslav addressed a prayer to the Mother of God of Krylos: “Today we implore You: Mother of God, glorified here on Mount Krylos, teach us to listen to Your Son as You listened. Mother of God, teach us to live in faith as You lived. Mother of God, bearer of God’s gaze of mercy and healing, cover the sons and daughters of Ukraine with Your mantle. Mother of God, save Ukraine.”
