On March 20, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church will hold a church-wide prayer for those who died due to COVID-19. Requiem Divine Liturgies will be performed in Ukraine and abroad.
This is reported by the Information Department of the UGCC.
The Council of Catholic Episcopal Conferences of Europe (CСEE) took the initiative to hold prayers for the victims of the coronavirus pandemic. ССЕЕ participants have already held prayers in their respective countries.
"For more than a year, we have all been united by one grief - we are experiencing the coronavirus pandemic. Morbidity statistics are striking in their growth. I think that each of us feels more or less anxious and saddened because of the loss of close people: priests, monks and nuns, relatives or friends," Patriarch Sviatoslav states in his letter to the bishops of the UGCC on this issue.
The first hierarch noted that "we, as believers, perceive this situation with great confidence in our Lord, who is the only one who guides us through all the trials and tribulations that COVID-19 brought with it."
"Invite believers who have lost their relatives to this service. In this way, our church will join the nationwide prayer, which will become a source of the Lord's mercy for us, and the deceased will be vouchsafed forgiveness of their sins," the head of the UGCC urged.
On March 20, His Beatitude Sviatoslav will celebrate the Requiem Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the resurrection of Christ. Prayer starts at 9:00. "Live TV" will broadcast this liturgy live. Therefore, everyone will be able to pray on this day for their deceased relatives and friends.