The Head of the UGCC in Rome solemnly opened the jubilee year of the 400th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Josaphat
On November 12, 2022, the Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav presided over the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the tomb of St. Josaphat Kuntsevych in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. This solemn Liturgy opened the jubilee year of the 400th anniversary of the martyrdom of the holy martyr Josaphat.
“At a special moment in the history of our Church and Ukraine, full of pain, blood, torment, and suffering, we gathered here, in the heart of Christianity, at the tomb of the Apostle Peter. And the holy hieromartyr Josaphat brought us together here,” the Primate emphasized.
“We see,” said the spiritual leader, “that the main strength of his figure, which by the grace of the Holy Spirit renewed Kyiv’s monasticism in his time, was a call to conversion. A call to everyone to come through that open gate, which is Christ himself in His Sacrament of Repentance, mercy…”
“We gathered to present to the Holy Father and the whole of the world the truth about Ukraine, to be the voice of this long-suffering nation,” he noted.
The Head of the Church noted that we gave thanks for the liberated Kherson and expressed his gratitude to the Basilian Fathers from the St. Volodymyr Monastery in Kherson and all other priests in Beryslav, Zmiivka and other parishes who stayed with their people during the occupation.
The UGCC Department for Information
