Bartholomew congratulated Ukrainians on Christmas: Church admires your courage
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew congratulated Ukrainians on Christmas and said that the Great Church of Christ admires the bravery and valor of the Ukrainian people.
This is stated in Bartholomew's Christmas greetings to Ukrainians, Censor.NET reports with reference to Ukrainian Pravda.
"The Holy Great Church of Christ – which brought the Christian faith and Byzantine civilization to your homeland, Kyiv Rus, at the end of the 10th century – continues to admire the courage, bravery, and prowess of the Ukrainian people, who demonstrate to the whole world true devotion and boundless love for their country," Bartholomew said.
He reminded that this year the good news of Christmas is heard alongside the din of war, provoked by "the aggression of the Russian Federation last February", which is "the worst European geopolitical and humanitarian crisis since the end of the Second World War" and "negatively affects the environment and society all over the world".
According to the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Mother Church is now especially thinking about Ukrainians, who are celebrating Christmas this year "in this cold season... without electricity, without heating", and is constantly praying for the "immediate restoration of peace and justice, for the revival of Ukraine".
Bartholomew wished that the coming year 2023 would become "a period of peace, love, and solidarity, truly the year of the righteousness of our Lord."
The Ecumenical Patriarch believes that "evil and darkness can be overcome only by solidarity with the Ukrainian people."
He also expressed hope that in the future he will be able to visit "your unconquered homeland again, finding then all Orthodox Christians of Ukraine united in one flourishing Church".
