Patriarch Bartholomew praises UGCC for being “with its people”

Sviatoslav Shevchuk's book about the war in Ukraine. Photo: UGCC

In Istanbul on 25 October in the Ukrainian Mutual Aid Society the head of the UGCC Sviatoslav Shevchuk presented his book “Ukraine stands! Ukraine fights! Ukraine prays!”. As the ugcc.ua website stressed, the foreword to this book was written in Polish by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

In his speech, Sviatoslav Shevchuk said that the basis of the book is his daily video messages during 2022.

The foreword by the head of the Phanar was included only in its Polish translation, in which Patriarch Bartholomew characterised the book as “a daily conversation between a father and his children in the tragic time of the great war”.

In particular, the Patriarch of Constantinople praised the UGCC for having, like other churches, “been and is with its people”.

As the UOJ wrote, on the same day the head of the UGCC discussed with Patriarch Bartholomew the anti-church law. Earlier, the UGCC said that they were using the war to “evangelize” Odesa.

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