His Beatitude offers condolences over Russian strikes on Kyiv

Aftermath of the overnight strike on Kyiv, June 17, 2025. Photo: State Emergency Service

“On behalf of the hierarchs, clergy, monastics, and faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as well as personally, I express my sincere condolences over the tragic events caused by the massive missile strike on Kyiv last night,” reads the statement from His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, published by the UOC Press Service on June 17, 2025.

Addressing the Mayor of Kyiv, Vitaliy Klitschko, Metropolitan Onuphry stated that he received the news “with sorrow – of the deaths of civilians, the destruction of homes, and the tears and suffering of the innocent, which once again cry out to heaven in pain and grief.”

The Primate of the UOC recalled the words of Saint Gregory of Nyssa: “It is not God who creates death, but human sin and malice; and the heart of the Lord is grieved when the innocent perish.”

He stressed that these words remind us that evil has no divine justification.

“The cruelty committed against our peaceful population will certainly meet with justice – for the righteousness of God is unyielding,” His Beatitude said.

“Now, sharing in the pain and sorrow of our brothers and sisters, we unite in Christian compassion with those who mourn the dead, who stand by the wounded, and who pray through tears for their loved ones and for our long-suffering Kyiv. In this shared grief, our prayer and our hope rest in God’s justice and mercy,” the message reads.

The archpastor prayed that the All-Merciful Lord would strengthen the Ukrainian people in their sorrow, give them the strength to endure this trial with faith and Christian dignity, and grant eternal rest to the souls of the departed in the homes of the righteous.

According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, the strike on Kyiv during the night of June 17 claimed the lives of 14 civilians, with over 100 people injured.

As previously reported by the UOJ, UOC believers in Chernivtsi successfully expelled raiders from the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.

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