The President of Ukraine thanked the hierarchs of the UGCC and the OCU for supporting Ukrainians on the frontline and the home front

According to the official website of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky greeted everyone on Easter and thanked them for prayers and concrete actions to support Ukrainians. This was also reported by the UGCC Information Department.

"We live, fight, win, and lose every day. Therefore, I would like to congratulate you on a day that Ukrainians look forward to and which contains a very warm moment. And there are not so many such moments in life. Easter is celebrated, albeit differently, on the front lines, in cities, along the borders," the president noted.

The Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy, emphasized that the occupier can only be defeated in unity when everyone works in their place and contributes to the common cause.

"We want a just peace to prevail in Ukraine, but this is only possible when we defeat the enemy. We, as churches, not only pray. Our sacred duty is indeed to pray and provide spiritual support. But we are also engaged in social ministry," added Metropolitan Epifaniy.

Representatives of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church present at the meeting included His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Father and Head of the UGCC, Bishop Vasyl Tuchapets, the Exarch of Kharkiv, Bishop Mykhailo Bubniy, the Exarch of Odesa, Bishop Yosyf Milyan, the Assistant Bishop of the Kyiv Archeparchy, and Bishop Andriy Khimyak, the Assistant Bishop of the Kyiv Archeparchy and Secretary of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC.

The Head of the UGCC noted that God is present where there is the greatest suffering in times of war. Similarly, the UGCC stands alongside those who suffer the most during these years of war. Primarily with the military through their military chaplains, who have been with the soldiers on the front lines since 2014, practically from the Maidan. Another area of ​​ministry is the humanitarian front. His Beatitude presented the multi-level activity in this area: from the central structures of the Church to serving those in need in parishes. Another direction is programs and projects aimed at healing the wounds of war. The fourth front is the advocacy work of the Church in the world to spread the truth about the war and pastoral care for Ukrainians who have been forced to leave Ukraine.

"Today, in the occupied territories, the UGCC has been officially liquidated, our priests are imprisoned, terrible persecutions are taking place, much worse than during Stalin's times, because the instruments of control over people are much more effective now," emphasized the Primate of the UGCC.

The participants of the meeting also discussed the peculiarities of promoting the Ukrainian formula for peace among representatives of the religious community, expanding the work of chaplains, and methods of combating the narratives promoted by Russian propaganda.

At the end of the meeting, His Beatitude Sviatoslav presented the President with the book "Ukraine Stands! Ukraine Fights! Ukraine Prays!" which was recently published by the "Komora" publishing house. It includes daily addresses from the Head of the UGCC, which he recorded in video format every day throughout the year since the beginning of the full-scale war. The afterword to the book was written by American historian Timothy Snyder, and the foreword was written by writer Oksana Zabuzhko. Metropolitan Epifaniy, Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, also received a copy of the book as a gift.