Video Message of the Head of the UGCC on the 194th Week of the Full-Scale War, November 2, 2025
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
This week, we have lived through the 194th week of the eleventh year of war. However, we begin counting these weeks from the start of the full-scale invasion of our peaceful Ukrainian land by the Russian aggressor. This week has been a week of heroic struggle — of battle and defense, of protecting our homeland.
Once again, as we reflect on this time, we give thanks to God and to the Armed Forces of Ukraine for keeping us alive. This week, our cities and villages — not only in the south, east, and center, but also in the west of Ukraine — came under severe attack from Russian weapons. Thanks to the professionalism of our defenders, dozens, even hundreds, of enemy weapons were destroyed, and millions of lives were saved. We thank our defenders, young men and women alike, for ensuring that life in Ukraine triumphed once again this week.
Today, we especially pray for the defenders of Pokrovsk in our Donbas, for the defenders of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, and for those in the Sumy and Chernihiv border areas. This week, we also prayed especially for our Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro. The Lord God, who holds the destiny of humankind in His hands, continues to save Ukrainians from the murderous hand of the Russian aggressor.
This week, we also express our gratitude to those who are fighting for light in Ukraine — our energy workers, who, after nightly attacks on our thermal power plants, distribution systems, and energy facilities, tirelessly restore power, even at the cost of their own lives.
This week, two energy workers perished in the heroic city of Sloviansk in their struggle for light. Many others were wounded. We thank our energy workers — the fighters for light — for thwarting the enemy’s attempts to break Ukrainians’ resilience on this front.
This week, we also prayed and glorified God for the courage and perseverance of our railway workers. The enemy is not only destroying the power and heating systems of our cities and villages, but is now also targeting our railways. The cynicism lies in the fact that entire passenger trains, particularly in the Sumy region, are being targeted. Our railway workers heroically deliver everything needed to sustain life in our cities and villages, even at the cost of their own lives and health. Ukrainian Railways continues to operate — like the blood vessels that carry food, warm clothing, and everything else needed for life to triumph over death each day across our homeland. We thank the employees of Ukrainian Railways for their heroic work and service for the good of our long-suffering people.
Therefore, we want the world to hear and know once again about the heroism of the Ukrainian people. We want the world to know once again that this week — Ukraine stands, Ukraine fights, Ukraine prays!
This Sunday, our Patriarchal Cathedral in Kyiv, despite shelling and blackouts, is welcoming pilgrims. This week, as part of the anniversary pilgrimage of the Year of Hope, our cathedral is hosting participants in a well-established initiative known as “Rosary Unites.” For five years now, every day at 8 PM Kyiv time, tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been praying for our homeland.
Five years have passed since this initiative was launched, and we express our gratitude to all those who join in this prayer every day. Regardless of where they are or where they live, we, as God’s united people, stand in vigilant prayer before His face. And today, all those who prayed the rosary online finally saw one another as participants in a single pilgrimage to our Patriarchal Cathedral.
Today, I want to thank all those known and unknown, those invisible prayer warriors who stand with us in prayer for Ukraine. Everyone who came to the Patriarchal Cathedral had the opportunity to receive a plenary jubilee indulgence by fulfilling all the conditions of this jubilee pilgrimage. Yet I would like to thank everyone who prays and unites in prayer, particularly in the “Rosary Unites” initiative.
I am especially grateful to Zhyve TV, which has created the space for this nationwide and global prayer of our Church. We thank our priests, rectors, nuns, various church movements, and communities in dozens of countries worldwide who have united in prayer and invited others to join them over the past five years. I am glad that I myself have been able to take part as one of the faithful in this all-church, nationwide initiative.
I thank our children, because we know that children pray together with their parents. In particular, I thank our children who have joined this initiative every month, on the thirteenth day, to pray the children’s rosary for Ukraine, for the conversion of Russia, for the end of the war, and for the salvation of human life. Dear children, thank you for defeating evil with your prayers, for stopping the enemy with your prayers, and for not allowing him to sow evil and death on our native Ukrainian land.
And thank you to all those who heard the Pope’s call and, in particular, prayed the rosary in October. This Sunday, we are able to reflect on this time of prayer and thank all who responded in their hearts and truly stood together in prayer before God.
This year, we also commemorated a great saint and ascetic — the father of our Church in the 20th century, the righteous Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky.
This year, we marked the 160th anniversary of his birth. And yesterday, November 1, we traditionally commemorated the day of his passing into eternity. I thank all those who prayed and continue to pray for the glorification of the righteous Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, and we ask that he watch over our Church and our people from heaven.
God, bless Ukraine! God, bless our women and men on the front lines! Jesus, stop the war, send Your Holy Spirit upon our land and our people, and bless our homeland with Your righteous, heavenly peace!
The blessing of the Lord be upon you, through His grace and love for mankind, always, now and forever, and for the ages of ages. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ!
