Archbishop in Ukraine says "The Eucharist is the antidote to death, giving us the opportunity to be partakers of His Body and Blood for the remission of sins and for eternal life."
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This is the daily address of the Head Archbishop of the Catholic Church in Ukraine. Many Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholics follow the Julian Calendar which celebrated Holy Thursday on April 21, 2022.
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ !
Today is the 57th day of this nationwide resistance to Russian military aggression in Ukraine and at the same time a special holiday. April 21, 2022 Ukraine is experiencing Holy Thursday. This is the day when the Lord our God Jesus Christ sat before His Passover for the Last Supper with His disciples and apostles. We consider the Day of the Last Supper a holiday in which the Lord revealed to man the depths of the mystery of his Divinity, made him a partaker of his Divine life. And this participation in the Divine life is given to man through the Holy Sacraments of the Church.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ !
Today is the 57th day of this nationwide resistance to Russian military aggression in Ukraine and at the same time a special holiday. April 21, 2022 Ukraine is experiencing Holy Thursday. This is the day when the Lord our God Jesus Christ sat before His Passover for the Last Supper with His disciples and apostles. We consider the Day of the Last Supper a holiday in which the Lord revealed to man the depths of the mystery of his Divinity, made him a partaker of his Divine life. And this participation in the Divine life is given to man through the Holy Sacraments of the Church.
On Holy Thursday we commemorate the institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ, with which He nourishes man. The Eucharist is the antidote to death, giving us the opportunity to be partakers of His Body and Blood for the remission of sins and for eternal life.
Today we also celebrate the day of the institution of the Holy Sacrament of the New Testament Priesthood. Jesus Christ shares the priesthood not of man, but of God himself, the Second Person of God, with man. He bestows that great grace of the priestly ministry of the Son of God himself on his apostles, and thus on their successors, the bishops. Then this priesthood, the service of God to man, reaches people of all times and nations.
The special service of Holy Thursday is special with it the grace of the Holy Spirit, sanctifying the spiritual power that revives the Church daily from year to year.
We will see a special church service performed only by the bishop on Holy Thursday, washing the feet only of priests, according to our tradition. This is a special moment of the experience of this Last Supper, when Christ himself girded himself with a towel and washed the feet of his disciples, and thus showed the meaning, the way of priestly service of God to man. God kneels before man as a servant and washes his feet, washing away his sins and healing his wounds.
On this Holy Thursday, I want to thank you especially for your ministry, for your zealous response to the vocation to the priesthood, to our bishops, priests, monks, deacons and seminarians who are preparing to become priests.
We see the special value of the priestly ministry, especially in the conditions of war, where the priest of Christ is the first to save human life. He is the first to bow over the wounds of modern man, over the wounds of Ukraine, over the wounds of our people. Our clergy have borne the brunt of this war, serving where needed.
I would like to express my special gratitude to the priests in the occupied territories who are with their people in the hottest spots of hostilities. Special thanks for the service to our military chaplains, who today, along with our army, preach the word of God day by day where the drama of war unfolds.
Today I ask all our laity and monastics: thank your priests for their service, say a kind word to them, congratulate them on this day. Because they need to feel that their people love their priests. They are ready to give their lives for their sheep and do it with diligent work day by day.
God bless Ukraine! God bless our Ukrainian army! God, save our cities and villages that burned this night: from Kharkiv, Donbass, Mariupol, Kherson, Nikolaev and all those cities and villages where Your presence is waiting! God, send priests, workers to Your great harvest, which You have prepared today in this difficult time! God bless Ukraine!
The blessing of the Lord be upon you, with His grace and love of man, always, now, and forever and ever. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Today we also celebrate the day of the institution of the Holy Sacrament of the New Testament Priesthood. Jesus Christ shares the priesthood not of man, but of God himself, the Second Person of God, with man. He bestows that great grace of the priestly ministry of the Son of God himself on his apostles, and thus on their successors, the bishops. Then this priesthood, the service of God to man, reaches people of all times and nations.
The special service of Holy Thursday is special with it the grace of the Holy Spirit, sanctifying the spiritual power that revives the Church daily from year to year.
We will see a special church service performed only by the bishop on Holy Thursday, washing the feet only of priests, according to our tradition. This is a special moment of the experience of this Last Supper, when Christ himself girded himself with a towel and washed the feet of his disciples, and thus showed the meaning, the way of priestly service of God to man. God kneels before man as a servant and washes his feet, washing away his sins and healing his wounds.
On this Holy Thursday, I want to thank you especially for your ministry, for your zealous response to the vocation to the priesthood, to our bishops, priests, monks, deacons and seminarians who are preparing to become priests.
We see the special value of the priestly ministry, especially in the conditions of war, where the priest of Christ is the first to save human life. He is the first to bow over the wounds of modern man, over the wounds of Ukraine, over the wounds of our people. Our clergy have borne the brunt of this war, serving where needed.
I would like to express my special gratitude to the priests in the occupied territories who are with their people in the hottest spots of hostilities. Special thanks for the service to our military chaplains, who today, along with our army, preach the word of God day by day where the drama of war unfolds.
Today I ask all our laity and monastics: thank your priests for their service, say a kind word to them, congratulate them on this day. Because they need to feel that their people love their priests. They are ready to give their lives for their sheep and do it with diligent work day by day.
God bless Ukraine! God bless our Ukrainian army! God, save our cities and villages that burned this night: from Kharkiv, Donbass, Mariupol, Kherson, Nikolaev and all those cities and villages where Your presence is waiting! God, send priests, workers to Your great harvest, which You have prepared today in this difficult time! God bless Ukraine!
The blessing of the Lord be upon you, with His grace and love of man, always, now, and forever and ever. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Source: UGCC Channel
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