Patriach Sviatoslav Calls on Faithful to Study Holy Scripture

On the occasion of the proclamation of 2013 the Year of Faith, on January 8, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk, issued a Patriarchal Address to the clergy, monastics and laity stressing that “the Faith is God’s gift and a response to God’s call inspired by the Holy Spirit.” The patriarchal address will be read out in all the churches of the UGCC on January 14. The motto of the Year of the Faith will be “One Lord, one faith, one Baptism,” reported the Information Department of UGCC.

“As for the Christian faith, we mean primarily the faith in the Triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit by which faith a person responds to His wish to embrace them and give them Life. Therefore, we trust God as the loving Father calling us to come to Him, inviting us to become participants of the community of God’s love and giving us the gift of His power from above, the grace and granting us true understanding of things invisible. To believe means to open up fully to God’s gift of love sent to His creation,” reads the address.

According to the patriarch, Christians draw from the faith the boldness to live by God’s laws and, therefore, to look into tomorrow and enter it with hope. The Primate called for everyone to grow in the faith by studying the Bible daily.