Greek Catholic Head Addresses Young People
The Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Patriarch Sviatoslav issued an address to the youth on occasion of the Day of Youth marked by UGCC on April 8. “Do not be ashamed to put off like clothes the chains of your doubts and searches and to put them at the feet of the Saviour thereby paving for him the way to yourselves,” reads the address.
Patriarch Sviatoslav stressed that young people are known to be able to feel the truth intuitively. When anyone passes the desirable for reality or their external image is used to cover up his or her internal emptiness, the young people immediately recognize such people.
According to the hierarch, clothes is of a considerable importance for modern young people. “It is often a way to express themselves that is a way to express one’s personality. Those who pay special attention to the colour and smallest details of their cloths are people showing their affiliation with certain youth subcultures, groups or societies. In reality, the accent on the clothes is often an indication of a deep aspiration of young people to be noticed for their uniqueness, originality and beauty,” said the hierarch.
“The clothes in the Old Testament were to signify passing things. Man as a being created for the eternal things used to have clothes made by God after the fall. It was a sign of a contradiction: though created for great things he lives in things miserable , though created for the eternity, he lives in the perishable, though created for glory, he has to cover up his shame. On the other hand, clothes were considered a manifestation of things invisible, such as one’s dignity, one’s place in the society or religious community, one’s inner condition, etc. A change of clothes could not be made without an internal change of the person and was only a manifestation of that change.”
Therefore, the Head of UGCC called the young people to put off the “old clothes” and use them to pave the way for the Lord as “only Christ can grant a person the fullness of life, freedom from the passing things and internal beauty and purity.”
The address was publishe
d by the Information Department of UGCC.
