From the Head of the UGCC on the 171th day of the war: May the hands of volunteers never be empty
Where people cry, need evacuations, where they have no bread, volunteers hurry. May the Lord help you carry out your mission successfully, may your hands never be empty, and may good people fill them with the help and means you would then generously and selflessly bring to the addressee. Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, said in his daily address on the 171 st day of Russia’s war against Ukraine, addressing volunteers.
“Yesterday and this night were fierce and bloody for Ukraine. The enemy launched a massive missile attack on Kramatorsk, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions. Unfortunately, there are many killed and wounded. The enemy attacked the positions of the Ukrainian defenders near Bakhmut. Fierce battles are also taking place in the South of our Motherland. Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions are burning under the fire of Russian bombs, rockets, and other strikes,” the Primate told about the situation at the front.
On this day, His Beatitude Sviatoslav considered the fourth element of statehood building — subsidiarity, or to put in other words — personal responsibility and private initiative.
“Why is subsidiarity so important?” — asks the Head of the UGCC and explains: “God created a man in his image and likeness, giving a special gift of creativity — he made man partaker of his creative potential, creative ability. The Fathers of the Church taught that the Lord, having created the world as it was, handed it over to the hands of man, who had to perfect it, make it fit for his dignity, for God’s plan, His wisdom, of which He made him a partaker. When a person does not have the opportunity to be creative, to co-create with God, and praise the world in which he lives, he feels that as a person, his dignity is not fulfilled and respected completely.”
In state-building, the Archbishop continues, such subsidiarity means that the higher power should not take over the competencies of the lower levels of society. And what can be done on a personal, private, or public level should not be appropriated by the higher authorities.
“As free citizens of a free state, we must feel that Ukraine will be as we build it. No one will make it better than us. No one will build it for us. And no one will protect it from the enemy for us. The Lord will always bless good deeds and undertakings. And we will feel joy from knowing that with our own hands and personal gifts, we contributed to the construction of a flourishing free Ukrainian state,” the Head of the UGCC convinces.
In today’s address, the Father and Head of the UGCC addressed the volunteers, who, according to him, implement the principle of subsidiarity.
“Dear young people, brothers and sisters, all those whom today we call volunteers, who, following the voice of their conscience, looking for no benefit, on the contrary, sometimes at the cost of their own lives — serve the needy. It is to you that I want to say today on behalf of the Ukrainian people and our Church: ‘Thank you!’ We pray for you and support you. I recall special meetings with volunteers in Kropyvnytskyi and Kharkiv, Kyiv and Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, and Vinnytsia. I remember that you said that you want to be the hands that do good deeds, to be hands of God that save people’s lives,” said the Major Archbishop.
According to him, the entire Ukrainian society today should be grateful to volunteers because where state institutions do not reach, there is a good volunteer soul and hardworking hands. Our church structures and parishes are now becoming a school for volunteering, a space where it is born. After all, it is not enough to have a desire to be a volunteer — you need to learn how to do it correctly, effectively, and successfully.
“O God, bless our volunteers! Multiply their ranks. Let the joy of service be the greatest reward for a kind soul, for a heart that knows how to do good. God, bless Ukraine with peace!” asked His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
The UGCC Department for Information
