At this significant moment, I extend my
hand on behalf of our Church to you and all the Orthodox brethren,
offering you to begin our path to unity, to the truth. Because the
future of the Church, our people and the Ukrainian independent European
state depends on how we today will cherish unity and overcome what
separates us. God is the one who unites us ...
To His Beatitude Epiphanij
Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine
Your Beatitude!
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Personally and on behalf of the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek
Catholic Church, I warmly congratulate you on the occasion of the end
of the Unity Council, the fruit of which was the election of you to the
Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. First of all, we are grateful
to the Lord who has blessed the participants of this, without
exaggeration, an important event that will enter the history of
independent Ukraine as a great God's gift on the way to the complete
unity of the Churches of Volodymyr's Baptism.
We have all witnessed how the Lord, through the power and deeds of the
Holy Spirit, in cooperation with your good will, heals the wounds of
church divisions and enmity, giving opportunity to reconcile with our
brother in Christ. Before the face of the Kyiv Oranta, the patron saint
of our long-suffering and God-loving people, you passed the exam of
faithfulness to the Christ's commandment of the unity of thought,
testifying the desire to "have one heart and one soul" (see Acts 4, 32).
There is a lot of work ahead of you, but I believe that the Lord will
"bless the work of His hands," and we will soon see the good fruits of
your archpastoral ministry. I pray that the process of uniting Orthodox
communities under your pretense would be marked by brotherly love and
constant memory about the good of our people.
"How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity!"
(Ps. 133, 1). These important words of David's psalmist are for us, the
Churches of Volodymyr's baptism, which were born in the font of the
Dnieper waters, a task for further common life. We live in one
liturgical heritage, from the depths of beauty and God-inspired wisdom
we draw spiritual strength. Even today, we are not in full eucharistic
communion, but are called to jointly overcome the obstacles that stand
on the path to unity. This historic mission and the foundation of the
future patriarchy of the united Kyivan Church were laid by even the
glorious church men Peter Mohyla and Josyf Veliamyn Rutsky.
At this significant moment, I extend my hand on behalf of our Church to
you and all the Orthodox brethren, offering you to begin our path to
unity, to the truth. Because the future of the Church, our people and
the Ukrainian independent European state depends on how we today will
cherish unity and overcome what separates us. God is the one who unites
us around us.
Let the newborn Savior, whose Christmas with great hope awaits every
Christian soul, generously bless you and give you the strength and
inspiration to fulfill His holy will, which is the salvation of all
people.
I hope you, being confirmed in faith, supported by hope, active in
love, under the care and patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the
Mother of our Savior, become good instruments in the hands of the Lord
and skillfully use the gift that was given to you.
With prayer and assurance of cooperation for God's glory and the good of our Ukrainian people
+ SVIATOSLAV
Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church