On January 20, the Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Ukraine, Bishop Michael (Anishchenko) of Koman took part in a prayer service on the occasion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
The prayer was led by the Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine Monsignor Visvaldas Kulbokas, while the clergy of local Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Churches prayed along, reports the Stauropegium of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Ukraine.
The motto of the event, which was held in the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ (UGCC) in Kyiv, was the phrase said by the prophet Isaiah: “Learn to do good, seek justice” (Isaiah 1,17).
During the event, Bishop Michael of Koman shared his thoughts on the mentioned words of the prophet Isaiah, which are the main theme of this year’s spiritual reflections.
The full text of the Exarch’s speech is published below.
“Your Beatitude, Your Eminence, venerable fathers, dear brothers and sisters. I sincerely thank His Beatitude Sviatoslav for the invitation to join the prayer for the unity of Christians and to share my thoughts on this matter.
Unity is one of those dogmatic, basic properties of the Church for which the Lord Jesus Christ prayed before his suffering, in order to strengthen his disciples, so that they would be united, as we heard today in the Holy Scriptures in the Gospel. Turning to God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ says: “Father, I beg you, let them be one, as we are one.” And of course, for many years, I think all Christian jurisdictions are making efforts to bring this desired unity as close as possible, and since our faith is also based mainly on the Holy Scriptures, which are also part of the Holy Tradition, it is not for nothing that it is a good tradition to choose every year a certain saying of the Holy Scriptures, reflecting on which we would change for the better in our attitude toward each other, in the embodiment of those Gospel ideals, in the fulfillment of those commandments of the Lord, which He gave us in order to reveal the light of Christ to the world and testify about his attempt at unity – the very unity for which our Lord Jesus Christ prayed.
This year, the words of the prophet Isaiah are offered as a reflection. “Learn to do good, seek justice.” Very symbolic words, especially in the present time, because doing good does not oblige a person to belong to a certain church jurisdiction. It is a common human calling and a common, one might say, state of the Christian soul – to learn to do good. Let’s note that now, when our state, our nation is going through a terrible time of enemy invasion, it is especially relevant, we can say, that these words were embodied in the fact that the entire nation, regardless of whether they are Christians or not, united in order to do good.
It is pleasant to see that the vast majority of people you meet have re-evaluated their lives, re-examined them, and are trying, some consciously, some unconsciously, to fulfill God’s commandment in relation to one’s neighbor about love, about creating good, precisely by making efforts in helping, in a kind word, in supporting each other in any way, either materially or simply with a kind word. Whatever they can do.
So, we see that, with God’s help, uniting during such a difficult moment in the life of our people, many people, the vast majority, these good qualities of the soul are manifested.
The second part of this statement is: “Seek justice.” And again, everyone is called to think about what kind of justice is meant? If we look at justice from the perspective of a personal, human concept, then everyone has their own justice. And as a rule, my personal justice may conflict with that of others. And here we should remember that we are called to seek God’s justice above all else.
Justice and righteousness are words of the same root (in Ukrainian – ed.), which refer us today to the understanding that truth, justice, righteousness, as written by the Apostle in the epistle, are part of the Kingdom of Heaven. After all, the apostle says: “The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” This is what we should be looking for. This is what we must ask the Lord for help to achieve. Each of us – in the way available.
I often repeat to myself at sermons in church that the Gospel is a practical book. Even after reading the Holy Scriptures multiple times, even rereading or doing many prayers every day, if we fail to change according to what we have read, if we fail to open our hearts to the action of God’s grace according to the prayers we have raised to the Lord – The gospel will be of no consequence to us. It’s only when we read the pages of the Holy Scriptures, including the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ Our Savior, who prayed for unity, and try to fulfill it, does it become actualized first of all for ourselves. Then we receive a blessing from God in order to understand the Holy Scriptures and live according to the way the Lord commanded.
This applies in particular to the issue of Christian unity, for which we are praying today. It is clear that we were born in a certain historical time, in certain historical realities, including inter-church relations, and the situation in which we were born does not depend on each of us personally, but what depends on each of us is what we bring, what this situation will be like in the future Whether we will continue to be at odds with each other, or whether we will try to find some kind of understanding, I repeat, in a way that is available, in a way that is possible for each of us.
It is very significant, returning to this expression of the Holy Scriptures, that the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah: “learn to do good.” And this very teaching of doing good can become for someone a big step in common understanding of each other, in common acquaintance, in ending enmity between Christians – the very common creation of good.
Today we pray and ask God to strengthen us on this path of creating good, learning to understand the truths that He revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures. Let’s ask today that this aspiration of ours, this sincere prayer of ours in our lives be fulfilled in concrete actions on our part. Amen.”
The event was organized by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, and World Council of Churches together with the Minnesota Council of Churches in the USA.
The week of prayer runs worldwide from January 18-25, but in some countries it lasts longer due to the large number of communities willing to join.
