Kiev, April 11, 2022
Photo: news.church.ua
On Friday, April 8, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine issued a statement of thanks to all the Local Orthodox Churches, states, organizations, and people of good will who are helping Ukrainian refugees.
His statement reads in full:
Dear brothers and sisters!
On behalf of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who are helping Ukrainians during the terrible war that broke into the territory of our Ukraine.
As a result of the Russian invasion, more than four million of our compatriots have been forced to leave their homes, leave their land, and seek shelter, mainly in Western Europe, as well as in other countries of the world.
As the primate of the largest and most numerous Church in Ukraine—the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, whose faithful have traveled abroad from war zones in large numbers, I would like to thank the primates, episcopate, clergy, and faithful of the Georgian, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian, and Polish Local Orthodox Churches, as well as the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia. Your fraternal support is very important for our people today, because, in the words of St. John Chrysostom, “there is nothing stronger than the Church of Christ.” This is true. We bear witness to this and humbly ask the Lord God to reward you a hundredfold for your generosity and mercy.
Thank you also to all the heads of European states and their peoples, heads of other states of the world, international organizations, and all those who have accepted Ukrainians into their homes; thank you to people of different views and faiths. By doing so, you fulfill the most important commandment of God—love for God and neighbor. The Holy Fathers teach us that by helping our neighbor, we are helping Christ, because He was also a “refugee” when He and His Mother fled from Herod to Egypt. Your help will remain forever in the memory and hearts of the long-suffering Ukrainian people.
May the All-Merciful Lord reward all of you “for your earthly, temporal, and corruptible gifts, Heavenly, eternal, and incorruptible ones” for all the good that you do!
With sincere respect and gratitude,
ONUPHRY,
METROPOLITAN OF KIEV AND ALL UKRAINE
PRIMATE OF THE UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
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