Video Message of the Head of the UGCC on the 207th Week of the Full-Scale War, February 1, 2026
Christ is born!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
We continue counting the days and weeks of this devastating war. This Sunday marks the 207th week of this tragedy — on the one hand, a disgrace for all of humanity, and on the other, a great disregard for God and mankind.
This week in Ukraine can be summed up in one phrase: “human warms.” Against the backdrop of low temperatures and nightly attacks on our cities and villages with various types of Russian weaponry, our energy workers and rescuers are working day and night to save lives and bring warmth and light to our homes.
Notably, one of the energy workers here in Kyiv admitted that he only sees light at work because he lives in darkness and cold at home. In Kyiv, our capital, almost 500 high-rise buildings remain without heat and light today. However, the enemy is gearing up for new attacks. It is attempting not only to destroy the generating capacity of our power plants, but also to disrupt Ukraine’s energy supply network.
A glaring example of this occurred this week when a powerful drone attack was launched on the Odesa residence of Metropolitan Agathangel and the monastery, which is the seat of the seminary of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
It was a week of pain, a week of cold, yet a week of human heroism.
It is also worth noting that the enemy is attacking not only infrastructure, but also Ukraine’s transport routes. In particular, the enemy attacked a passenger train with drones on the railways near Kharkiv. People died, but once again our soldiers, who were traveling on this train, saved women and children, showing Christian and human courage.
Therefore, we thank the Lord God for surviving this week. We thank the Lord God that despite the cold and the hardships, our unbreakable spirit remains steadfast. Every night, the enemy commits new crimes against humanity. These attacks on our cities and villages have no military or strategic significance. Their target is the civilian population.
But together we help each other, warm each other, create spaces of resilience in our churches and monasteries, and we want the whole world to know, to hear that Ukraine stands, Ukraine fights, Ukraine prays!
This week, we witnessed enormous solidarity with Ukraine from various communities within our Church, as well as from ordinary people and Christians from around the world. In particular, the first generators collected by the Archdiocese of Krakow of the Roman Catholic Church arrived in Kyiv. This week, I was able to convey our gratitude to the Polish ambassador in Kyiv for this solidarity, which sometimes counteracts various kinds of political manipulation or xenophobic sentiments provoked by Russian propaganda. Once again, I want to thank His Eminence Grzegorz Ryś and all the brothers and sisters from Poland who are standing in solidarity with Ukraine today.
We know that today the collection announced last Sunday is taking place in parishes in Poland. We are deeply grateful to all those who today express their solidarity with our suffering but unbreakable Ukrainian people.
This Sunday evening marks the eve of the Feast of the Encounter of the Lord, a feast that concludes the Christmas caroling season in our Ukrainian tradition. And so this week, in each of our communities, in each parish, as well as here in Kyiv, at the Patriarchal Curia, we celebrated the feast of Rozkoliada (Farewell to Christmas Carols). But the feast of the Encounter is a special spiritual occasion when we focus our attention on Jesus Christ, who is the light that enlightens the people.
On this day, as the evangelist Luke tells us, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple on the fortieth day after Christmas. Thus, the righteous Simeon and the prophetess Anna, led by the Spirit of God into the temple, revealed to all of us the meaning of this event. That light is Jesus, but the Blessed Virgin Mary is the candle that brings the light of Christ to humanity, which so eagerly anticipates the light of hope.
In our tradition, the Feast of the Encounter is a feast of consecrated persons. Therefore, today we want to express our gratitude for the gift of service and vocation of all our brothers and sisters who minister in our monasteries and various communities of consecrated life; who today deserve special respect, gratitude, and a special invitation to our young men and women to join our monasteries. Our Church today needs what we call light cavalry, which can quickly come to where it is most needed.
Today we pray: Lord, enlighten our people with Your light! Lord, warm Your children with Your warmth, the warmth of Your love! God, enlighten with Your light the hearts and minds of the powerful of this world, who even today are devising evil plans, murders, and the prolongation of war. Inspire the hearts of modern humanity with Your spirit of peace! 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!
