Ukraine Archbishop says "It seems that the devil uses all possible military tools to destroy life in Ukraine to kill."
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Christ is Risen!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
Today is Saturday, May 28, 2022, and Ukraine is already experiencing the 94th day of nationwide resistance to open Russian aggression against our people and our state. And we thank the Armed Forces of Ukraine for surviving last night and we can meet a new morning.
Ukraine has been bleeding again over the past day and night… Very heavy fighting is taking place, particularly in the Donbas. There the enemy concentrated all his forces. The war is on earth, in the sky, at sea.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
Today is Saturday, May 28, 2022, and Ukraine is already experiencing the 94th day of nationwide resistance to open Russian aggression against our people and our state. And we thank the Armed Forces of Ukraine for surviving last night and we can meet a new morning.
Ukraine has been bleeding again over the past day and night… Very heavy fighting is taking place, particularly in the Donbas. There the enemy concentrated all his forces. The war is on earth, in the sky, at sea.
It seems that the devil uses all possible military tools to destroy life in Ukraine to kill. Heavy fighting is going on in Luhansk region. Very intense attacks are taking place around the city of Severodonetsk, which lasted another night, despite the incomplete surroundings. Heavy fighting is also going on in the south of our homeland. Powerful missile strikes were inflicted on the territory of Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
But despite such difficult times, Ukraine does not lose hope because we pray and believe in the resurrection. We truly feel that God's power and the universal international support of Ukraine give us the opportunity to effectively stop and defeat our enemy.
Today I would like to reflect on another sin from the series of "other people's" sins - the sin of praise. When we talk about praise, in particular the praise of sin, we are talking about something deeper and more serious than expressions of sympathy or intellectual support. In the Christian sense, praising means wanting to be who you praise and glorify. Therefore, the early Christians were ready to die, but in order not to praise idols, they were ready to die, but not to offer incense to the Roman emperor. In the book of Revelation, which concludes Scripture, we see that the antichrist will require mankind to praise his actions as they praise God.
Every time we praise crimes, trying to explain to others why it was necessary to act in this situation, every time we praise dictators with human hands, every time we praise evil, we become complicit in that evil through our praise. The prophet Isaiah says, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil." Often we do not even realize that we are in danger of praising evil and sin. That is why Christians of all times and peoples say that "all praise, honor, and worship to the one God."
The crimes committed in Ukraine today deserve unanimous condemnation. Therefore, anyone who, at the international, economic, or even ecclesiastical level, seeks to justify, support, or praise the actions of Russian criminals is in danger of being guilty of the very sin we are contemplating today. Let us be attentive to what we say, that we praise, that we exalt, that we set an example worthy of imitation. Because with our praise we can multiply the models of criminal, sinful behavior.
God, give us Your Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of glory! God, teach us to glorify only You alone. God, teach us, the Christians of the new age, to proclaim that glory and honor belong to you alone! God bless all those who do good! God, give us the strength to glorify, praise the heroes of love for God and our neighbor!
God, we entrust to your hands the cities and villages of the Ukrainian Donbass. We entrust to your hands the life and health of the defenders of Ukraine. In Your hands we entrust the lives of all those who found themselves in the occupied territories and no longer hope to receive help from anyone.
God bless Ukraine!
Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
But despite such difficult times, Ukraine does not lose hope because we pray and believe in the resurrection. We truly feel that God's power and the universal international support of Ukraine give us the opportunity to effectively stop and defeat our enemy.
Today I would like to reflect on another sin from the series of "other people's" sins - the sin of praise. When we talk about praise, in particular the praise of sin, we are talking about something deeper and more serious than expressions of sympathy or intellectual support. In the Christian sense, praising means wanting to be who you praise and glorify. Therefore, the early Christians were ready to die, but in order not to praise idols, they were ready to die, but not to offer incense to the Roman emperor. In the book of Revelation, which concludes Scripture, we see that the antichrist will require mankind to praise his actions as they praise God.
Every time we praise crimes, trying to explain to others why it was necessary to act in this situation, every time we praise dictators with human hands, every time we praise evil, we become complicit in that evil through our praise. The prophet Isaiah says, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil." Often we do not even realize that we are in danger of praising evil and sin. That is why Christians of all times and peoples say that "all praise, honor, and worship to the one God."
The crimes committed in Ukraine today deserve unanimous condemnation. Therefore, anyone who, at the international, economic, or even ecclesiastical level, seeks to justify, support, or praise the actions of Russian criminals is in danger of being guilty of the very sin we are contemplating today. Let us be attentive to what we say, that we praise, that we exalt, that we set an example worthy of imitation. Because with our praise we can multiply the models of criminal, sinful behavior.
God, give us Your Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of glory! God, teach us to glorify only You alone. God, teach us, the Christians of the new age, to proclaim that glory and honor belong to you alone! God bless all those who do good! God, give us the strength to glorify, praise the heroes of love for God and our neighbor!
God, we entrust to your hands the cities and villages of the Ukrainian Donbass. We entrust to your hands the life and health of the defenders of Ukraine. In Your hands we entrust the lives of all those who found themselves in the occupied territories and no longer hope to receive help from anyone.
God bless Ukraine!
Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
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