“The social ministry of the Church in wartime has evolved into a humanitarian front: Kyiv Metropolitanate’s Social Ministry Forum takes place in Kyiv”
On February 26, the Forum of Social Ministry of the Kyiv-Halych Metropolis of the UGCC “Interaction for Sustainability” began at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv, where about a hundred participants from different parts of Ukraine had an in-depth discussion of the peculiarities of the Church’s social ministry in the time of war.
The Forum was attended by the Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav. He emphasized that the metropolitanate currently serves the most wounded parts of Ukraine, adding that this event is an opportunity to confirm the Church’s desire to serve as long as necessary.
Analyzing and summarizing the ministry of the Church, in particular during the full-scale invasion, the Head of the UGCC stressed that any city today is not only the epicenter of human misery but also the core of the great ministry of Christ’s Church: “Over the past two years, no one in Ukraine has died of hunger, thirst or cold. Wherever the hand of a volunteer reached to bring help, a human life was saved.”
His Beatitude Sviatoslav also reminded that the Forum of Social Ministry of the Kyiv-Halych Metropolitanate of the UGCC is being held on a special day — the 91 st anniversary of the birth of His Beatitude Lubomyr Husar: “Today is the birthday of His Beatitude Lubomyr, a figure whose role in the history of restoring the structure of the Kyivan Metropolitanate of our Church in these territories may not yet be fully understood, but without him, we would not be where we are today. He, like our father, gave birth to us all here and brought us all here.”
Bishop Vasyl Tuchapets, in his welcoming speech, noted that the Social Ministry Forum provides a great opportunity for priests and representatives of hromadas to discuss and analyze the needs of people that existed at the outset of the war and the challenges we face today.
Bishop Vasyl Tuchapets focused, in particular, on the importance of helping people restore housing in the territories liberated from Russian troops and the need to demine the territories. Furthermore, the head of the UGCC Social Ministry Department noted the acute need to help children from the frontline areas endure the war psychologically.
The UGCC Department for Information
