The Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy, has delivered a sermon at the commemoration of All Saints of the Ukrainian Land at the Cossack graves near Berestechko on July 4.
The Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine emphasized that the strength of Ukrainians lies in their unity: “Unity is our strength, while division is our loss. When our people united they achieved success, but when squabbles and ambitions, envy and power-craving eroded the rulers and society, then came the ruin. In the same way, our Church flourished when it rallied around the throne of Kyiv and maintained inner peace, rejecting disagreements, arguments, and other temptations, but when it retreated from these virtues, it went into a decline.
The Cossacks in the battle of Berestechko, the metropolitan added, have fulfilled the commandment to love their neighbor.
“Today marks 370 years since the Battle of Berestechko. Although it ended with the retreat of the Cossack army, it forever engraved in the memory of the Ukrainian people as a victory of spirit, victory of the desire for freedom, and victory in the struggle for the right to profess the Orthodox faith. It wasn’t for someone else’s land, not for treasures that the Cossacks fought and sacrificed their lives. Not as mercenaries and not under their ruler’s coercion did they go to war, but out of love for God, for the Orthodox faith, which was oppressed by the world’s powerful and out of love for their nation, which was being tread upon and humiliated.”
Paying respects to All Saints of the Ukrainian land, we’re not adding glory to them, we’re just reminding ourselves of the example they’ve set, the one we should follow in life.
“The holy lands of Ukraine are spiritual fathers and mothers to us, they are our teachers and mentors. Learning from their lives, we are affirmed in the understanding that the Ukrainian nation is no worse than other nations, among which God has glorified His favored ones. For even among our ancestors a sermon was voiced by the apostles. Out of our family came the host of the righteous. The historic Metropolitanate of Kyiv, the Church of Rus’-Ukraine conceived some great saints, ascetics who shone in their monastic exploits, and a host of martyrs for the truth, for the Orthodox faith. And it wasn’t only in ancient times, princely and Cossack, but also in the recent past. Therefore, in addition to the memory of all the saints of the Ukrainian land, today we especially honor the new martyrs and confessors who suffered in Ukraine and in other lands from the persecution of the ungodly in the 20th century.”
The head of the OCU noted that our Christian and filial duty is to remember the courage and sacrifice of the Cossacks, and to use with dignity the gift of freedom and independence, the gift of statehood of Ukraine and autocephaly of the Local Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which we have received today, including due to the Cossacks who shed their blood.
“So in this field, blackened by the Cossack blood shed for faith and freedom, let us engrave in our hearts the lessons of the past and be worthy of the gifts that our ancestors passed to us,” Metropolitan Epifaniy concluded.
