"This is desecration," - His Beatitude Sviatoslav on the seizure of UGCC Church in occupied Kherson Region
"In the village of Oleksandrivka, Skadovsk district, in Kherson region, during Holy Week, they not only seized our temple but committed desecration - they reconsecrated and annexed it to the Russian Orthodox Church," said the Head of the UGCC during a sermon at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Kyiv on May 2, 2024.
"Looking at those images," continued the Patriarch, "the words of the prophet Elijah come to my mind, who cried out to the Lord, saying: 'Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.'" (1 Samuel 19:14)
His Beatitude Sviatoslav assured that on this Maundy Thursday, he prays "for our people in the occupied territories." "Christ wants to come to them today in a way familiar to Him, to make them participants in His mysterious Passover supper," he added.
The head of the UGCC also mentioned two imprisoned Redemptorist fathers, Ivan Levytsky and Bohdan Helet, from Berdiansk, who have been in Russian captivity since November 16, 2022. "Today they endure in Christ and with Christ. They are truly now following Christ to the cross. Today, we ask, pray, and work - do everything possible to free them. But on this day, the Day of the Priesthood, we cannot fail to mention those priests who suffer, who drink to the dregs the cup of Christ's agony and suffering, and ultimately give themselves to their people, their Church. They give themselves as a sacrifice for the sins of many."
