Our Church shares the presence of the Risen Christ with Ukraine and invites us to experience Easter joy: His Beatitude Sviatoslav on Sunday of St. Thomas
There is so much pain and fear in our homeland Ukraine today. But our Church, the community of disciples of the Risen Savior, conveys to modern Ukraine the message of the Resurrection of Christ and the Risen One and invites everyone to touch this joy that is reverberating among us today, stated the Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, during a sermon at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv on the Sunday of St. Thomas.
“Today, on the first Sunday after Easter, we hear a far-reaching and powerful calling, which has sounded since the first moments the disciples met with Christ. It is a call to see, touch, and meet the risen Savior among us and experience the change of our fears into deep, true Easter joy,” the preacher said.
Recalling the meaning of today’s Gospel passage, the Head of the UGCC reflected on what the Apostle Thomas lacked to exclaim to the risen Savior: ‘My Lord and my God!’. In his opinion, it was not enough for Thomas to hear about the resurrected Christ. He needed a personal experience to encounter the resurrected Christ in the depths of his fear and locked doors.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav explained that Thomas seemed to be reborn to his apostolic mission by this encounter with the Risen One. “The content of the entire sermon of the apostles was that they saw the Risen One, touched Him, ate with Him, and proclaimed Him to the nations,” he emphasized.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized that for a modern person, like the Apostle Thomas, it is not enough to hear about the Risen One but to meet Him.
“The content of the church tradition is not only the transmission of the message and information about Christ but sharing the presence of the Risen Christ Himself. Therefore, every time you attend the Divine Liturgy, you hear about Jesus and receive Him alive in the holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.”
His Beatitude Sviatoslav also explained the symbolism of the artos, which is now shared in churches: “Today, we have broken this Easter bread, which symbolizes the body of the risen Savior, and each of you will receive a piece of it in your hands. So then, as if to make us experience a similar invitation, Christ says to Thomas: ‘Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side. And do not be unbelieving, but believe.’”
The UGCC Department for Information
