Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav arrived in Germany on a working visit and participates in the meetings of the Church in Need, a charity organization, which was founded in 1947. The Primate is accompanied by fr. Andrij Maxymovich, administrator of the Patriarchal Curia and fr. Lubomyr Yavorsky, patriarchal econom.
In his words, the Head of the Church thanked everyone for the opportunity to speak at this event. He also noted that the UGCC had a difficult path in its development: “The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was an opposition to the communist regime in the USSR. Only 30 years ago our Church was revived, received a complete dismissal. It is a global Church because it operates not only in Ukraine and for Ukrainians, but for all around the world.”
In addition, His Beatitude Sviatoslav (as an example) mentioned the visit of the Bishop Yosyf Milyan and fr. Andrij Gakh to South Africa, where they first served the Liturgy. In this way, according to the Primate, the UGCC learns different cultures, languages and countries.
The Greek Catholic leader, in his speech to the audience, listed the important issues, challenges and problems that Ukrainians are now facing: the war in the east (in particular, environmental problems, since Donbas suffers from water pollution and mined areas), annexation of the Crimea, populism, etc.
“We were not a rich country before the war. However, imagine what is happening to the country’s economy now, during the war! “- calls on the Head of the Church. According to him, not only the war and economic problems force many young and educated people to emigrate to Western Europe, but also social unrest and political instability.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav spoke about the presidential election in Ukraine. Many people became “surprised” by the fact that the winner of the first round was Volodymyr Zelensky. The Head of the UGCC assumes that the reason for this was the fatigue of the society from the old politicians and the need for new political faces.
“We need freedom, Christian morals, which are the fundamental values that will build a modern and successful country,” the Head of the UGCC said, adding that Ukrainians also need to have spiritual and moral authorities.
In the end he mentioned the great contribution of the volunteer movement, in particular Caritas Ukraine, as well as the ecumenical situation in Ukraine.
Department of Information of the UGCC