Four years after the outbreak of the military conflict in Ukraine, the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Moldova, together with the entire clergy and faithful people, expresses its full solidarity and fraternal support for Metropolitan Onufriy and the faithful people of Ukraine, offering fervent prayers to God for peace, steadfastness in faith, and the preservation of church unity in these times of great trial and suffering.
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Message of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy, Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, on the Fourth Anniversary of the Beginning of the Full-Scale Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Dear brothers and sisters,
On this February day, four years have passed since the beginning of the large-scale invasion of our homeland by Russian troops. Throughout these years, Ukrainian soil has suffered the horrors of war, daily losing peaceful civilians and devoted defenders.
Today, on the National Day of Prayer, we turn with deep emotion to the Lord of Hosts (cf. Ps. 79:5), Who orders our affairs (cf. Is. 26:12), beseeching Him to bless our land with the long-awaited peace, through which the fruit of righteousness is sown in the world (cf. Jas. 3:18).
With one heartfelt aspiration, the Ukrainian people await the restoration of a peaceful and just life and the return home of our relatives and loved ones. Today we offer special prayers for soldiers, medical workers, energy sector employees, and rescue service personnel, who undertake a great labor of love for their neighbors, providing an example of courage and self-sacrifice.
Blessed Augustine says that “justice demands that we first love God, then our homeland, afterward those close to us, and finally all other people.” The clergy and faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, following these words of the holy hierarch, remain together with the many-million Ukrainian people, both within the Ukrainian state and beyond its borders, proclaiming love and mutual understanding, carrying out various humanitarian missions and charitable initiatives aimed at supporting the military and Ukrainians who have found themselves in difficult circumstances caused by the horror of war. The fullness of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church fervently raises prayers to the Heavenly Father, placing sincere hope in Him (cf. Ps. 54:23) and asking well-being for every Ukrainian.
Dear brothers and sisters! May our prayers to the Lord today be a testimony of our sincere trust in Him, of our love for our compatriots and for all who labor to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (cf. Eph. 4:3) and to stop the dreadful bloodshed from which the blessed Ukrainian land—our common home—now suffers. May hope not abandon us; may despair not enter our hearts. Let us continue to work together, to defend our homeland, to cultivate inner unity, and the Lord will not forsake us.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all (cf. 2 Cor. 13:13).
O Great and Only God, protect Ukraine for us!
† ONUFRIY
Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine,
Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
