The Head of the UGCC on the Sunday before Christmas: “This war is the story of the salvation of Ukraine, written by God through hope”
2023 will be the year of culmination. But, for us Ukrainians, it will be nothing but Ukraine’s victory over an unjust aggressor. The Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, said in his sermon on Sunday before Christmas.
Today’s Sunday, the preacher said, called the Sunday before Christmas, is dedicated to the memory of the Holy Fathers. This word, this illustration of the Holy Fathers, means, first of all, all those who, throughout the history of God’s people of the Old Testament, prepared the coming of Jesus Christ to earth.
“Commemorating the Holy Fathers, we see that the Lord is designing the day, the historical moment of the incarnation of his Son, very deeply leading the hope of the people experiencing their ups and downs. The Lord writes the story of salvation through frequently crooked paths of man,” the Primate said.
He noted that we are preparing for Christmas, experiencing the Sunday before Christmas in the context of war. “Today is the first day of the new year,” said the Head of the Church. “We all feel that even this war is the story of the salvation of Ukraine, written by the Lord through the hope He sends to His people.”
“We are more assured today in our ability to win than we were a year ago than before the war. Today it is already a daunting task to scare Ukrainians with something. The Lord revives and increases the flame of hope within our people, so even the history of our people in our pains and sufferings becomes a movement towards Him. But He also comes out to encounter us. And that meeting, that joy of God in man and man in God, will be the joy of our Christmas during the war that we will celebrate in just a few days,” the spiritual leader said.
The UGCC Department for Information
