Ukraine Archbishop says "Indeed, this war inflicts deep wounds on Ukrainian society, our people. We cry, we suffer."
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Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
Today is Saturday, June 4, 2022, and Ukraine is experiencing the 101st day of this bloody, brutal war. Already three-digit numbers outline this time of grief, suffering, pain that Ukraine is experiencing.
Intense fighting is taking place in the east and south of the homeland. The heart of the clash, the confrontation between Russian and Ukrainian troops is the city of Severodonetsk, where even some streets pass from hand to hand several times. The enemy is mercilessly shelling the entire territory of Ukraine. Sirens are heard everywhere, both during the day and at night.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
Today is Saturday, June 4, 2022, and Ukraine is experiencing the 101st day of this bloody, brutal war. Already three-digit numbers outline this time of grief, suffering, pain that Ukraine is experiencing.
Intense fighting is taking place in the east and south of the homeland. The heart of the clash, the confrontation between Russian and Ukrainian troops is the city of Severodonetsk, where even some streets pass from hand to hand several times. The enemy is mercilessly shelling the entire territory of Ukraine. Sirens are heard everywhere, both during the day and at night.
But Ukraine stands. Ukraine is struggling. Ukraine believes in God, who is our strength and strength. Ukraine is crying and mourning its losses. He misses his children, who are being killed. The words of the Holy Scripture are fulfilled, by which the people cry out to the Lord God: "God, we are led like sheep to the slaughter!". We know that repression is intensifying in the occupied territories today. Filtration camps are being built, which are real concentration camps. According to the Russian side, about one and a half million Ukrainians have been deported to Russia, 300,000 of them children.
But Ukraine is waiting for the Descent of the Holy Spirit. Today, on the second day of the Decade of Mission, we hear the word of God that sounds to us in the context of the Divine Liturgy. Christ assures those who love Him and keep His commandments: "I will ask the Father to send you another Comforter, the Spirit of truth, whom the world does not know, but you know, for he is with you and with you."
Let's think today, what does it mean to be comforted during the war? What is this Spirit that Christ Himself calls the Comforter? Obviously, this is not about the spirit of entertainment, which simply diverts our attention from the tragedy of reality. It is the Comforter Spirit who gives true comfort, that is, removes the cause of our weeping, sorrow, and sorrow, and heals our wounds inflicted on us by sin. Indeed, this war inflicts deep wounds on Ukrainian society, our people. We cry, we suffer. And who can comfort us? Today we especially pray for women, children, the elderly who have lost their husbands, parents, sons and daughters. Who can comfort a mother who cries over the grave of her murdered son or her murdered daughter? We turn to the Comforter Spirit. This consolation means a certain transformation, and thus the final healing not only of each of us, but also of our pain. It is a power from on high that will make all of us, the whole world, different.
Patriarch Atanagoras spoke very aptly about the consolation and the role of the Holy Spirit: “Without the Holy Spirit God is far away, Christ remains somewhere in the past, the Gospel is a dead letter, the Church is a human organization, , worship - the implementation of formal, pious rites, and human actions and obedience to the law - the morality of slaves. But in the Holy Spirit and by the action of the Holy Spirit the universe is renewed and pregnant by the Resurrected Kingdom, the Gospel is the life-giving power, the Church is the communion of the Holy Trinity, spiritual authority is the service that liberates and gives freedom, the Church's mission is constant Pentecost, Liturgy - remembrance and presence of God's action, its actualization, and thus the foretaste of this eternal happiness, which we can already taste here, and the actions of man and life in the Holy Spirit are deification.
Therefore, today, on this second day of the Decade of Mission, we pray: “Holy Spirit, be our Comforter. Three tears of the children of Ukraine. Spirit, come and conquer the spirit of war, the spirit of the devil, who today mows life and gathers his mows of death. Holy Spirit, come, please Ukraine and renew the face of the earth. "
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!
But Ukraine is waiting for the Descent of the Holy Spirit. Today, on the second day of the Decade of Mission, we hear the word of God that sounds to us in the context of the Divine Liturgy. Christ assures those who love Him and keep His commandments: "I will ask the Father to send you another Comforter, the Spirit of truth, whom the world does not know, but you know, for he is with you and with you."
Let's think today, what does it mean to be comforted during the war? What is this Spirit that Christ Himself calls the Comforter? Obviously, this is not about the spirit of entertainment, which simply diverts our attention from the tragedy of reality. It is the Comforter Spirit who gives true comfort, that is, removes the cause of our weeping, sorrow, and sorrow, and heals our wounds inflicted on us by sin. Indeed, this war inflicts deep wounds on Ukrainian society, our people. We cry, we suffer. And who can comfort us? Today we especially pray for women, children, the elderly who have lost their husbands, parents, sons and daughters. Who can comfort a mother who cries over the grave of her murdered son or her murdered daughter? We turn to the Comforter Spirit. This consolation means a certain transformation, and thus the final healing not only of each of us, but also of our pain. It is a power from on high that will make all of us, the whole world, different.
Patriarch Atanagoras spoke very aptly about the consolation and the role of the Holy Spirit: “Without the Holy Spirit God is far away, Christ remains somewhere in the past, the Gospel is a dead letter, the Church is a human organization, , worship - the implementation of formal, pious rites, and human actions and obedience to the law - the morality of slaves. But in the Holy Spirit and by the action of the Holy Spirit the universe is renewed and pregnant by the Resurrected Kingdom, the Gospel is the life-giving power, the Church is the communion of the Holy Trinity, spiritual authority is the service that liberates and gives freedom, the Church's mission is constant Pentecost, Liturgy - remembrance and presence of God's action, its actualization, and thus the foretaste of this eternal happiness, which we can already taste here, and the actions of man and life in the Holy Spirit are deification.
Therefore, today, on this second day of the Decade of Mission, we pray: “Holy Spirit, be our Comforter. Three tears of the children of Ukraine. Spirit, come and conquer the spirit of war, the spirit of the devil, who today mows life and gathers his mows of death. Holy Spirit, come, please Ukraine and renew the face of the earth. "
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!
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