"God, you gave Ukraine freedom. Preserve and protect it today," - Head of the UGCC
The head of the Church recalls that this year we will celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Hrushev Revelation when in the dire times of the Soviet Union, the mother of God appeared to Ukrainians in Hrushev, which was interpreted as the annunciation of freedom of Ukraine.
"Then the Most-Pure Virgin Mary seemed to reveal to us God's plan for Ukraine, that the evil empire would collapse. And it will not be the work of man, but the work of God," the preacher said.
On February 17, the UGCC will celebrate the 130th anniversary of the birth of patriarch Iosyp Slipyy, a confessor of the faith, a prisoner of Stalin's concentration camps. Patriarch Iosyp was the first to tell the world about Ukraine, which paid great sacrifices for its desire to be free. "Mountains of corpses and rivers of blood," patriarch Iosyp Slipyy said of our lands before the mighty of this world.
"We say today: God, we remember that it was you who resurrected our Church. When we came out of the underground, we couldn't imagine what kind of freedom he was calling us to. And we ask: was this resurrection your joke, God?" he asks rhetorically.
The head of the Church noted that the resurrection of the UGCC was like the stone that broke the Colossus on clay feet and the Soviet Union – the prison of peoples collapsed. By whose power? Only by God's! Because then the powerful of this world, neither in Moscow nor in Washington – no one could have imagined that this colossus would one day fall.
And today we say, "God, we remember your work. What does it mean? Will that colossus get back on its clay feet? We remember how Ukraine was resurrected by the power of God's Grace, restored its statehood, its conciliarity, for which entire generations of our predecessors competed. And we know that it was a work of God. And we ask ourselves today: God, was that your joke? Or did you only tempt us with the smell of that freedom? And now you want to take it away?
Standing today in our patriarchal cathedral, we say: God, Your works are as irrevocable as your resurrection from the dead. Whether someone likes it or not. Today we pray to you, God: regardless of our sins or our merits, but just as you preached freedom to us 35 years ago, gave it to us 30 years ago, keep it for us today. Protect Ukraine, protect our people. Do not pay attention to our righteousness or sinfulness, but look at the sanctity of your Martyr Church, your people, to whom you came to save," the head of the UGCC said.
