The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Archbishop Sviatoslav, addressed the congregation on the 79th week of full-scale war. In his address, the bishop touched on the issue of the inviolability of the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
This is reported on the official website of the UGCC.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav noted that last week enemy missiles and bombs hit the civilian population in various parts of Ukraine, and Ukrainians once again felt that the power of Christ’s faith is the key to dignified survival, love, and victory.
The Primate mentioned two important dates: the 10th anniversary of the consecration of the UGCC’s Patriarchal Cathedral and the 32nd anniversary of Independence. Speaking about the latter date, he said that Ukrainians began to understand more deeply what freedom is, what it means to be a free person and that in order for the Ukrainian people to have the right to exist, they need their country to survive.
“Today, we rediscover and confirm such a feature of our independent Ukrainian state as unity. Over the centuries, Ukraine was being torn between different empires, which always sought to appropriate some pieces of its territory. However, our Homeland can be itself only in its unity. Therefore, we do not trade in our territories,” the head of the UGCC emphasized.
He added that the idea of paying for freedom and independence by separating some part of the Ukrainian territory to appease the appetites of Russian invaders is not only a dangerous utopia, but a way for another aggression on the part of the enemy and encouragement for them to continue killing Ukrainians.
Finally, he called to remember and honor all those who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of their land. A special prayer, according to His Beatitude Sviatoslav, is needed by those who today “fight on the battlefield with the Russian invaders, at the cost of their own lives, for the right to life, freedom, and an independent country.”
