reflections, updates and homilies from Deacon Mike Talbot inspired by the following words from my ordination: Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe and practice what you teach...
Showing posts with label Archbishop Shevchuk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Archbishop Shevchuk. Show all posts
Pope to Ukrainian Greek Catholics: 'Your faith is being put to the test'
Pope Leo XIV acknowledges that the faith of Ukrainian Greek Catholics is being put to a severe test, "amid this senseless war," but stresses that the Lord will have the final word and life will triumph over death.
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
Even if your faith is being put to the test, trust in God, Pope Leo XIV told Ukrainian Greek Catholics on Saturday in the Vatican.
The Pope began saying he extends a heartfelt greeting to the dear faithful of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, who have come to the tomb of the Apostle Peter on the occasion of the Jubilee Year, and greeting, in particular, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyč, the bishops, priests, consecrated men and women, and lay faithful.
Welcoming the delegation, Pope Leo said, "I wish to express my closeness to the martyred Ukraine—to the children, the youth, the elderly, and especially to the families who mourn their loved ones," adding, "I share in your sorrow for the prisoners and for the victims of this senseless war."
Keep eyes on Christ
The Holy Father also reassured that he entrusts to the Lord their intentions, your daily struggles and tragedies, and above all, their longing for peace and serenity, noting, "I encourage you to walk together—pastors and faithful—keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus, our salvation."
"Your pilgrimage," he said, "is a sign of the desire to renew the faith, to strengthen the bond and communion with the Bishop of Rome, and to bear witness to the hope that does not disappoint, because it is born from the love of Christ poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit," highlighting, "The Jubilee calls us to become pilgrims of that hope throughout our lives, despite the adversities of the present moment."
Many questions for the Lord
"The faith of your people," Pope Leo recognized, "is now being put to a severe test." "Many of you, since the war began," he acknowledged, "have surely asked yourselves: Lord, why all this? Where are you? What must we do to save our families, our homes, and our homeland?"
Faced with this dramatic scenario, Pope Leo stressed that, "Believing does not mean already having all the answers, but trusting that God is with us and grants us His grace, that He will have the final word, and that life will triumph over death.
Learning from the Virgin Mary
The Pope urged them to draw strength and courage from the Blessed Mother.
"The Virgin Mary, so beloved by the Ukrainian people, who with her humble and courageous 'yes,'” he said, "opened the door to the world’s redemption, assures us that our own “yes,” simple and sincere, can also become an instrument in God’s hands for accomplishing something great."
"Saying “yes” today," he said, "can open new horizons of faith, of hope, and of peace, especially for all those who are suffering."
Hope that the Lord will wipe away every tear
The Pope urged them to share that faith with their loved ones, fellow countrymen and women, and all those the Lord places in your path, reminding that the Jubilee calls all faithful to become pilgrims of hope throughout our lives, despite the adversities of the present moment.
Their journey to Rome, with the passage through the Holy Doors and the stops at the tombs of the Apostles and Martyrs, he also suggested, is a symbol of this daily path, oriented toward eternity, "where the Lord will wipe away every tear, and there will be no more death, nor mourning, nor crying, nor pain."
Pope Leo concluded by praying that the Virgin Mary, Mother of Hope, guide and protect them, and imparting his heartfelt Apostolic Blessing to their families, Church, and people.
The Holy Father also greeted and blessed some mothers of soldiers who had fallen at the front who were participating in the pilgrimage.
Pope Leo XIV blesses mothers of fallen Ukrainian solders. (@Vatican Media)
Leader of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church: Pope Francis offers unique voice for peace
In an interview with Vatican News, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, says this Easter, Christ gives them hope and certainty of a better future ahead, and expresses gratitude to Pope Francis for being a singular voice in working toward peace.
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
Despite the tragic ongoing war in Ukraine bringing death and destruction, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church says that as they celebrate Easter, Christ, as their source of hope and resilience, enables them to keep hope for an end to the war, and that peace, life and resurrection, will have the final word.
In an interview with Vatican Radio - Vatican News, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halyc, expressed this, noting his gratitude to Pope Francis for his constant closeness and appeals, and, in particular, for offering a unique voice on how to find peaceful solutions.
His Beatitude discusses the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Easter amid rubble and war, the timeliness of Pope Francis' warnings throughout his papacy about nuclear arms, and how to work toward peace even as their country has faced war and suffering for more than a year since Russia's invasion.
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Your Beatitude, in Ukraine at Easter, believers greet each other with the words ‘Christ is risen, truly risen.’ What significance does this greeting have in the context of the war that has been going on for more than a year?
Well, for us, this greeting is not a simple greeting, but is a proclamation of the Christian faith and also of a revelation of the authenticity of our existence as Christians. I remember when back in the Soviet times, when I was a child with these greetings, I greeted a representative of the Communist Party without being aware of that. And I said to him, 'Christ is risen.' And he responded, ‘Yes, thank you. I was already informed.' But to be informed and to have a right to proclaim ‘Indeed risen,’ they are two different perspectives. And today we can share our experience from the tragic situation, tragic moments of the Ukrainian people. Christ is indeed risen. He is with us, and He is a source of our resilience and a source of our hope, hope for the future, hope that one day this war will end, and then, peace, life, and resurrection, will have the last word in our history.
The Holy Father has made countless appeals for Ukraine and to help those suffering. What has this meant to you and what value have those appeals had?
For us, it's very important that we are not abandoned, that in our sufferings, we are not alone. And the Holy Father speaks not only to Ukrainians but also on behalf of Ukrainians to the world. And each time that he is trying to announce to the world the tragedy which is happening in Ukraine, for us, his words are lifegiving. Because of the worldwide solidarity, we were able to withstand with the consequences of this war. Thanks be to God and thanks to the Holy Father, this humanitarian crisis, provoked by the war, the humanitarian tragedy did not deteriorate. Nobody in Ukraine died because of hunger, thirst, or cold. We were able to pay our assistance to those who are victims of this Russian invasion. So each prayer, each appeal of the Holy Father to the world for us, is a lifegiving message.
Pope Francis has encouraged finding peaceful solutions to the war. In your mind, do you envision a possible road to peace with an emphasis on mediation and peace-building efforts rather than arms and violence? And how so?
We pray for peace. We struggle for peace. Of course, this peace right now sounds like a miracle, like something that should be happening, but when, we do not know. There is no human prospective for an immediate cease-fire in this war. But we do believe that miracles happen. Maybe one day, we will enjoy peace in our Ukrainian land.
Throughout Pope Francis's pontificate, he has constantly warned against the dangers of nuclear arms. Why is his message particularly important at this time?
Because right now, the world again is at the edge of a nuclear confrontation. When international law doesn't work anymore, no one in the world feels secure. And which security, which argument, [do] many, many nations have today? Only nuclear weapons, nuclear powers. And that is very sad because we are witnessing how the escalation and militarization of international relationships are happening right now. And Pope Francis almost is a unique voice to the world saying, ‘Please stop. Don't use that argument as an argument in your negotiations.’ We cannot argue, with blackmailing, using nuclear power, because this fact will provoke a disaster for the whole world.
The Risen Christ first manifested Himself to women. What role do Ukrainian women, and, in particular within the Church, play in these difficult times?
Women in Ukraine are a cornerstone stone of our society. Very often, we would say that in Ukrainian culture, we have a matriarchate. So, a mother, a woman, is a person who mostly announced, proclaimed the Christian faith in Ukraine. And the second Sunday after Easter, we have a Sunday dedicated to the Myrrhbearering women.
The role of women in the mission of evangelization today in Ukraine is crucial. Almost 99% of the catechists in our communities are women, but also our clergy is mostly married, so the role of priestly wife is very important in the parish and parish community. Very often people would first approach the priest’s wife, and then him, especially in some delicate issues for women. The mother is an image of Ukraine today. A Church as a mother is something very, very important, I would say, eloquent to Ukrainian people today especially. Mother Church, mother and teacher, mother and protector, is an icon of our Church today.
How difficult is it, Beatitude, to transmit this faith when there is so much pain and so many deaths all around? How do you offer a message of hope and faith in the midst of such sadness at this time?
In those circumstances, we ourselves experience that the Christian message is not an idea, but is a life-giving experience. So sharing our message, we share our experience. We share our own source of hope, our own source of resilience. So people are listening to us, but looking to us: How do we ourselves incarnate this message in our own life? Very often today, we are witnessing an outstanding moment of conversion of so many people in Ukraine because they are looking for a deep meaning of those very difficult circumstances: Why it's happening to us. What should you do? Is it right, that which we are doing? And very often those messages or those questions could be responded to only if we are listening to the Word of God, and only if we are members of a community who lives that message, that good news, which we proclaim each day.
Is there anything else that you would like to add, Your Beatitude?
Well, from the bottom of our heart, from Ukraine, from the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, we would like to convey the authenticity of that message: ‘Christ is indeed risen. Indeed risen!’ Christ is with us. We do have a hope because we are participating in His Resurrection. This message, ‘Christ is risen’ is not only about Him, but is also about us, and the proclamation of the Christian hope for today.
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
KYIV, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Ukraine's main Catholic church said on Monday it would move to a new calendar that would see Christmas celebrated on Dec. 25 rather than Jan. 7, amid an effort by Ukrainian institutions to break cultural links to Russia.
The move by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), which counts just under a tenth of Ukrainians as worshippers, was welcomed by culture minister Oleksandr Tkachenko.
"This decision is appropriate to the demands of our time and public opinion," he wrote on Facebook, citing the results of a national online survey conducted by the government.
That poll, held in December 2022, showed 59% of over 1.5 million respondents supported moving Christmas celebrations to Dec. 25, when the feast is celebrated in Western Europe.
Last month, Tkachenko expressed hope that all of Ukraine's churches would agree to celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25.
Monday's announcement by the UGCC made it the first to do so.
Until now, all major churches in majority-Orthodox Ukraine followed the Julian calendar, which celebrates Christmas on Jan. 7. That is also the date on which Russia celebrates the feast.
The UGCC was hitherto one of few churches worldwide to recognise Papal authority while simultaneously following the Julian calendar, which the Vatican replaced with the amended Gregorian calendar in 1582.
The UGCC's head, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, said that fixed-date feasts such as Christmas would move to the new calendar, but movable feasts such as Easter would still be celebrated according to the old calendar.
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav: The war will not stop Christmas
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church reviews the past the past ten months, from fire coming down from the sky, to the kitchen being built under his house to provide hot meals for people without electricity.
By Salvatore Cernuzio - Kyiv, Ukraine
"Stop the military actions, stop killing us. This will be the first step to genuine and lasting peace. Peace is something deeper than the absence of war. It is not just about winning in war, but overcoming the very spirit of war, defeating it in its causes."
As he makes this yet another heartfelt plea for Ukraine and its people, on the bookcase behind the Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyč, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, points out the helmet and a bulletproof vest on the bookcase behind him. "See how heavy they are... We were putting them on every day. Someone joked: they are the new liturgical vestments!" The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was speaking with reporters on a mission with the Embassies of Poland and Ukraine to the Holy See of Poland and Ukraine, whom he welcomes to the Archbishopal residence with biscuits and coffee.
The joy of Christmas
Much has changed since those first terrible days of the Russian aggression against Ukraine in late February, during which, Shevchuk says pointing to a window, "a rain of fire could be seen coming down from there." He himself was sheltered with hundreds of people in the crypt of the Cathedral of the Resurrection. Today he speaks more easily.
His thoughts are mostly on the coming Christmas: "We have the custom of singing Christmas carols to our neighbors, especially those most in need, to share joy and good wishes. Now everyone is asking, Will there be Christmas joy, will we be allowed to sing or should be silent and weep? I said yes, and yes, Christmas will be there. We have the right to celebrate Christmas joy that does not come from secular entertainment, but from Heaven because the Prince of Peace will be born."
Celebrations at the front and in the shelters
These celebrations will reach all the way to the front. In fact, there will be someone singing for the soldiers engaged on the fighting line, Shevchuk says. "In Soviet times," he recalls, "Christmas carols were a form of protest against the atheistic communist regime. People sang to overcome anxieties and sadness. The carols are an expression of the Christian faith; they are a catechesis singing about the birth of Jesus. Many therefore are preparing to go and sing with our soldiers at the border. I know several students are organizing."
The same celebration will take place in every air raid shelter and foster home: "We will celebrate Christmas in the cold and dark. This will make us experience ‘on our skin’ the story of the Holy Family, also in the cold and dark but with heavenly joy."
Don't get used to it
It is a message of hope the one that the Greek Catholic leader wants to spread at a time when attacks seem to have abated in Ukraine and many cities have been liberated. “But one has to be careful,” the Archbishop says. “When you hear the air raid warning, people don't pay attention anymore. This shows that the danger is not decreasing but people psychologically get used to it. It is a risk because we now have the phenomenon of missiles. They can fall anywhere, in Kyiv as well as in Lviv. There is no safe place in Ukraine."
The cold emergency
Despite that threat, however, it is more urgent to deal with emergencies. And right now, the primary concern for Ukraine at war is the cold wather and the inability to keep warm due to power surges and the need for electricity to be rationed.
"The cold is the reason for the fifth wave of internally displaced persons," Shevchuk explains. "Since the beginning of the war, first the oligarchs took the money and fled, then those who had their own means helped themselves and found hotels and other places, and once again the people with nothing fled empty-handed. I think of the family from the town of Boryspil' who walked 23 kilometers barefoot, at night, together with their children. So, there was a fourth wave of refugees who did not go too far, but looked for the first village and waited for the time to return home. Now the new wave, the fifth: the ‘thermal’ refugees fleeing not from the war but from the cold, and crowding east-central Ukraine."
A kitchen under the archbishop's house
"We were not prepared for the phenomenon of not having electricity and needing to feed so many people," Shevchuk says. "We immediately took steps to build kitchens to provide hot meals." One of those kitchens will be built right under his house: "It will be ready in a few days, we have to organize the logistics of food distribution. As a church we cannot expect to feed everyone, but we try to receive everyone we can. It is our pastoral ministry." A ministry of closeness.
The daily video messages
It is precisely that pastoral closeness that has prompted Shevchuk, every day since February 24, to produce a video message posted on the internet. The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church explains the genesis of this challenging initiative, "On the first day everyone was disoriented, you could see Russian helicopters and fire from the sky, the whole world started calling me [asking], Are you alive? Where are you? What are you doing? I didn't know what to say: I don't even know if I’ll be alive in two hours, I thought. So I said to my secretary: Let's make a message to confirm that we are alive. I realized that with these messages I could help people understand the fear and talk about the hope that comes from faith.
After 2-3 weeks I asked myself: Is it worth it? Then one day I went to the battered city of Žytomyr and, in a parish, an old lady approached me to say, 'We live in constant terror, we are afraid, it is good that you talk to us. 'But, ma'am, I don't know what to tell you anymore!' 'It doesn’t matter what you say, what matters is that you talk to us.' Then I realized that even if I don't know what to say anymore, it is important for people to hear the voice of their Church accompanying them."
