“Serving those in whom the Lord weeps is a source of happiness and joy for a priest,” UGCC Head on Holy Thursday
Christ, the eternal High Priest, is present where the pain is greatest. Therefore, every priest of Christ today—marked with the seal of that eternal Priesthood—feels it his duty to be where God suffers and weeps in humanity. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Father and Head of the UGCC, emphasized this during Vespers with the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great on Holy Thursday, April 17, 2025.
He was concelebrated by Bishops Stepan Sus and Andriy Khimyak, along with priests of the Kyiv Archeparchy.
At the beginning of the service, the Patriarch blessed the antimins—a cloth depicting Christ taken down from the cross, containing the relics of saints and essential for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. He also consecrated the myrrh, which will later be distributed throughout the Church. At the end of the Liturgy, the rite of the washing of feet was performed: the Head of the UGCC washed the feet of the priests of the Kyiv Archeparchy.
In his homily at the conclusion of the Liturgy, His Beatitude Sviatoslav noted, “Through this sacred service of Holy Thursday, we have all become participants in the Last Supper of our Savior.”
He explained that in the Old Testament relationship between God and humanity, there were various types of sacrifices offered to God, including the sacrifice of communion. Among them, the Passover sacrifice held special significance.
“In the New Testament, the Paschal sacrifice is no longer a lamb and its blood, but—as the Evangelist John tells us—our Lord and Savior Himself. The Last Supper is a communal banquet. Christ takes bread, blesses it, gives it to His disciples and says: ‘Eat—this is my Body.’ Then He blesses the cup, gives it to them and says: ‘Drink from it, all of you, for this is my Blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.’ In that gesture we see the revelation of a new kind of Priesthood,” the Primate explained.
He added, “Christ is Himself the Lamb, the sacrifice of the New Testament. As He goes to His Passion, He is also the Priest who offers that sacrifice, and He is the Temple of the New Covenant—in which there is a throne from which the sacrifice is offered before His disciples. He does not merely bless them with bread and wine to consume. He wants His apostles to become partakers of His Priesthood, bearers of the seal of the eternal Priesthood of God Himself. He makes them sharers in His mission.”
“Christ desires His disciples to share in His way of the cross, His suffering, even His death—so that they might become witnesses and bearers of His glorious Resurrection on the third day. God comes as a Priest to kneel before a human being… The One who has suffered is able to understand and sympathize those who suffer. It is God’s capacity—through the human body—to be truly human in suffering that reveals the essence of the Priesthood at the Last Supper,” the Head of the UGCC emphasized.
In the context of war, military chaplains and priests serving on the front lines hold vital importance. The Head of the UGCC offered special prayers for them during the service.
“Today our thoughts go out to our bishops in Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv, to our priests under fire on the front lines and near the border, to our priest in Sumy. I’m especially glad to see our priests from the Chernihiv region, from Ukraine’s wounded border,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
He stressed that it is in service to those who suffer that “the mystery of happiness and personal priestly joy lies.”
The Patriarch also acknowledged the UGCC’s rapid growth in recent years and called on every priest to foster at least ten new priestly vocations.
“Our Church is expanding as never before. In the Kyiv Archeparchy alone, we already need 50 new priests. So many people are saying: ‘Give us a good, holy priest!’ Our needs are growing, yet our capacity to meet them isn’t keeping pace,” the Head of the UGCC noted.
According to him, the number of UGCC faithful in Ukraine has increased by one and a half times in just a few years.
Addressing seminarians, His Beatitude Sviatoslav said: “Dear boys, I congratulate you on this day. Know this: the Church needs you. Each of you is a precious gift to us—more valuable than gold. Do not lose or neglect your vocation.”
The UGCC Department for Information
