We meet resurrected Christ in Church — within the community of people and within its walls: the Head of the UGCC in Cherkasy
We may ask “and where is Christ this very Easter? The answer comes from the word of God: ‘He comes to the place where His disciples gather,’, stated the Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, during a sermon on Bright Thursday, April 20, in Cherkasy.
The Patriarch recalled the disciples of Christ and noted that the meeting with the resurrected Christ changed their lives because it was then that they understood everything He told them. “An encounter is necessary to understand. How often can we hear things about a person? But until we meet them, weather the storm with them, as people say, we cannot say we know them. In those 40 days after His resurrection, Jesus Christ wants us to know Him,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
“The first and most important moment of our meeting with Christ occurred when we plunged into His death and rose with Him. It was the moment of our baptism,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
The Patriarch said that the Sacrament of Baptism not only gives birth to us from heaven, water, and the Spirit but also grafts us into the Body of the risen Christ and leads us to the community. To know whether someone is a good Christian today, we ask them what parish they belong to.
After the Liturgy, His Beatitude Sviatoslav spoke with the parish priest, Fr. Ihor Kotenko, and the faithful, including internally displaced persons from Bakhmut. There was also an opportunity to talk with the priests of the Cherkasy Protopresbytery.
After visiting the parish in Cherkasy, the head of the UGCC came to Zolotonosha, where he visited the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit and met with the local priest, Fr. Yuriy Holodniuk.
The UGCC Department for Information
