UGCC Head in his 144th week: “I want to embrace Mr. Maksym from Kryvyi Rih and his entire family”
This tragedy painfully recalls the events of early September in Lviv with the Bazylevych family. This shared pain, this shared tragedy, unites Lviv and Kryvyi Rih across different parts and regions of Ukraine. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said this in a traditional video message on the 144th week of the great sacrilegious war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
The Primate emphasized that this week marked once again a week of death, destruction, and nightly air attacks on our cities and villages.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav noted: “Heavy fighting is taking place along the entire front line. Our heroic Armed Forces, our men and women are holding back fierce attacks, the onslaught of enemy troops, defending Sumy, Kharkiv, Luhansk and all other Ukrainian cities and villages that lie in close proximity to the front line. Our southern cities, in particular Odesa and Kryvyi Rih, have been targeted again this week.”
According to him, this week will likely be remembered by all Ukrainians for the great tragedy that struck the family of Mr. Maksym Kulyk in Kryvyi Rih. Almost the entire family was killed by a direct hit of a Russian missile on a high-rise building: mother Olena and her three children—boys Kyryl, Demyd and two-month-old Ulyanka. Only the father, Maksym, survived.
“I want to embrace Mr. Maksym,” said the Head of the Church, “and his entire family. This man said that with the passing of his most beloved ones, his life seemed to have lost its meaning, but in bidding them farewell, he blessed them. Mr. Maksym, today the whole of Ukraine is grieving and crying with you. At the same time, we hope with you for the resurrection and for a new meeting with those whom we are now placing in God’s hands.”
This week, Christians of the Eastern Rite began the Nativity Fast, which is also commonly called Pylypivka. It lasts 40 days. It is a time of preparation for the meeting with the newborn Savior, the feast of Christmas.
“Let us devote the Nativity Fast to prayer and fasting for the victory of our people over the darkness of war. Let us pray for our army, for all those who mourn, grieve, and suffer today, and for those who long so deeply for the coming of the Savior who will bring His heavenly peace,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav called on all the faithful and people of good will.
The UGCC Department for Information
Photo credit: Svoi, Kryvyi Rih
