The Head of the UGCC: The place of the Church will be in human relations in the post-coronavirus world
His Beatitude Sviatoslav said that he is often asked where the Church’s role should be in the post-coronavirus world. "I answer: in human relations," he said. "I would say," the Primate continued, "that today human relations are going through a difficult format of transformation. Today we often live in a virtual world and do not understand how important it is to help someone find the place where he/she would feel comfortable.
According to His Beatitude Sviatoslav, today the Church can offer such an environment, such a network of relations. The Church lives by certain principles, and one of her tasks, according to Pope Francis, is to help people to remain human, to not turn into a computer.
"So human relations are a special dimension," says the Primate, "where the Church manifests herself in a special way. Because the Church is a community, a community of people who communicate with each other. The essence of church life is to convene people to be together. We are in solidarity, even when we need physical help."
Today, the Church also creates community in cyberspace. "A bishop from Canada recently told me this story. He called a family, and they said to him: Your Excellency, we cannot talk to you right now because we are in the Church. And at that moment they were taking part in the online live stream of the Divine Liturgy. This means that at that moment that family felt like a home church,” said the Head of the UGCC.
According to him, the Church today is experiencing a new discovery of the family as a home church, as a place where we learn how to be together, how to build relationships: between man and woman, between parents and children ... Because these are the basic relationships that have always formed the foundation of society, which today suffers from very serious crises.
"So we need to remain human beings in relationships with others, not to be afraid of them, but to consider them the images of God through which He can speak to us," the Primate concluded.
