Kiev, February 24, 2026
Photo: uoc-news.church
As every year, the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has blessed the faithful to take up a special Lenten prayer rule for spiritual growth and for peace in Ukraine.
In his Lenten address, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, blesses the faithful to “to read Psalm 90 and make seven prostrations with the Lord’s Prayer for peace in Ukraine” every day.
He also calls on the faithful to maintain mercy and compassion even in the midst of their severe trials.
His full Lenten address reads:
Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, dear children of the Holy Church!
By the grace of God, we are entering the Holy Forty Days—a time when the Church, as a caring Mother, calls us to the quiet joy of repentance. Great Lent opens before us the path of purifying the heart and enlightening the mind, so that we can overcome the burden of worldly vanity and anxiety and learn to live before the face of God, in the light of the Gospel, with remembrance of eternity, and with living responsibility for every day granted to us for salvation.
Fasting isn’t reduced to mere bodily abstinence, although this too is necessary as a school of will. “Its main work,” writes St. John Chrysostom, “is to gather a man through repentance, to restore his spiritual sobriety, to teach silene where words are injurious, and to speak where words heal.
The Holy Church teaches us to observe fasting inseparably from the divine services, in the breath of prayer, in hearing the Word of God, in repentance and reconciliation with our neighbors. Where man stands before the Lord without excuses or self-deception, true renewal begins: Sin ceases to be a habit and becomes a pain that we patiently strive to heal. Now, in the midst of severe trials for the Ukrainian people, the fast acquires an even deeper meaning—the Lord calls us to mercy and compassion. Let our Lenten abstinence become almsgiving for the needy, let our prayer be support for those on the frontlines, for the wounded, for prisoners, for those who have lost loved ones or their homes. Let us not allow sorrows to make us hard-hearted: A Christian overcomes darkness not only through endurance, but also through love, which doesn’t humiliate, take vengeance, or inflame passions, but which does good even when it’s difficult.
Let us not put off our encounter with God, let us not confine ourselves in formalities, but let us fill these days with prayerful presence according to our abilities, so that each day of Great Lent may become a true step towards the Lord’s Pascha—the Bright Resurrection of Christ.
For the period of Great Lent, we bless our faithful for a small labor of prayer for peace in Ukraine: to read Psalm 90 and make seven prostrations with the Lord’s Prayer every day.
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