Lord, come to Your Ukrainian people! — His Beatitude Sviatoslav
How desperately we need to feel that God has not abandoned us! God is advancing toward us. That is why the Message of the Synod of Bishops of our Church, which we sent to our global community from Rome, is called “I will not leave you!”.
For this is the word of God addressed to man of all times and nations. This is the word of your mother Church to you, no matter where you are or how tough your circumstances may be, even if tears are streaming down your face today, stated by the Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, during the Liturgy in the Cathedral Church of the Holy Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus in Rome on the 20th Sunday after the Descent of the Holy Spirit according to the Gregorian calendar. On this day, the main cathedral of the Apostolic Exarchate in Italy celebrated the feast day. Bishops Dionysiy Lyakhovych and Iryney Bilyk concelebrated with the Head of the Church.
The Archbishop said that “the Lord came to his people” are the central words of the New Testament books because they have always been related to some special action of God towards man. Today, we hear that the petition, the prayer of man to God: “Come!” is a source of strength and resilience for Christians of all times. “In the deepest anguish and suffering, the early Christians, even here in Rome, prayed, ‘Come, Lord Jesus!’ For when God comes, He brings the victory of Christians over the pagans, the victory of life over death,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized.
The Primate noted that “the warmongers today are trying to ignite a war around the world to cover up their failures in Ukraine,” recalling the long-suffering Ukraine through the prism of words about the space of death and a mother who lost her son: “Our people kneel to greet the heroes who return home from the front lifeless. Who can comfort Ukraine today? Who can wipe away our tears? We pray tirelessly today: Come, Lord Jesus! Come and convert the space of life into eternal life, the space of death into victory over evil!”
His Beatitude Sviatoslav congratulated the parishioners of the Cathedral Church of the Holy Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus in Rome on the feast day. He noted that after the communion between Kyiv and Rome was restored, the Pope granted this church to the Kyivan Church as an embassy to the Apostolic See.
“I remember when there was only one parishioner on the list of this parish in 1994, and then hundreds of Ukrainian women knocked on the doors of this church,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav, “And owing to you, dear Ukrainian faithful women, today we have a Ukrainian exarchate in Italy, and this church has been converted into a cathedral.”
“On this day of the patronal feast of this unique historic church, which has inscribed profound pages of the history of unity between Kyiv and Rome, we are celebrating and praying in Rome for Kyiv, here in the Eternal City for our long-suffering, bleeding Ukrainian land,” said the Head of the Church.
photo: Roman Paliukh
