On the occasion of Constitution Day, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska took part in a joint prayer for Ukraine held at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
The Head of State emphasized that, for the first time, the prayer brought together clergy from different regions and cities of Ukraine: the Kharkiv region, Sumy region, Dnipro, Chernihiv, and Irpin, whose churches have been damaged and destroyed by Russian strikes. Joining them in prayer for Ukraine were clergy from Berdiansk, the Odesa region, and the Ternopil region who had endured the hell of Russian captivity.
“Father Vasyl Fedorenko, who combined service to God and military service – defending Mariupol and baptizing fighters at Azovstal. Chaplain Mykola Luchynskyi, who opened an exhibition about this war in a church in Khmelnytskyi, bringing its exhibits himself after his regular trips to the front. A parish minister in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ivan Teremko, who once underwent an amputation and today visits our severely wounded fighters and strengthens their spirit. The head of the Polish church in our Mykolaiv region, Paweł Staniaszek, who was born in Poland but has lived in Ukraine since 2014, having chosen helping our people and our warriors at the front as his mission. And Valentyn Horokhovskyi from Kherson, who did not surrender his church to the occupiers, evacuated many children from the captured city, and returned to his church after Kherson was liberated – because truth always prevails,” the President said.
Valentyn Horokhovskyi, a priest of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, noted that the state must continue to protect freedom of religion in Ukraine from Russian imperial encroachments. According to him, Ukraine must achieve victory over the aggressor, and a just peace will be a reward for the entire nation – the opportunity to live in its own state and pray in its own church.
Myroslav Latynnyk, a priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the UGCC in Irpin, emphasized that despite the actions of the Russian occupiers, who damaged Ukrainian churches, Ukrainians have not lost hope or faith.
“When the full-scale war came to our land, our church ceased to be only a place of worship. It became a place of prayer, shelter, support, and hope. Like thousands of Ukrainian homes, it was wounded. But every shattered window, every fragment in the wall became not a sign of defeat, but evidence of resilience. Ukraine stands, Ukraine fights, Ukraine prays,” the priest noted.
Vasyl Fedorenko, a chaplain of the National Guard of Ukraine, added that today Ukrainian land is suffering, but our warriors will certainly achieve victory over the enemy.
The prayer was led by the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Epiphanius; Bishop of the Transcarpathian Reformed Church Sándor Zan-Fabian; representative of the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists Ihor Bandura; Bishop of the Ukrainian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Markos Hovhannisyan; and Senior Bishop of the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church Anatoliy Kozachok. They prayed for Ukraine’s freedom, a just peace, the restoration of our state’s territorial integrity, support for Ukraine’s defenders, and the unity and resilience of the entire Ukrainian people.
The President and the First Lady lit candles for peace in Ukraine at the Dormition Cathedral.
As a result of Russian aggression, more than 740 religious buildings and sites of worship have been damaged in Ukraine. In particular, about 200 churches and houses of prayer have been completely destroyed. During the occupation of Irpin, Russians repeatedly shelled the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the UGCC. One fragment of a mine that struck the church facade was handed over to Pope Francis by the Head of the UGCC, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, in the fall of 2022. The Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Bucha was also severely damaged during the Russian occupation.
Last year, the occupiers shelled the buildings of the Dnipro Theological Seminary of the OCU and the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Dnipro. In May of this year, the Church of the Holy Martyr John the Warrior in the village of Slovyanka in the Dnipro region was badly damaged by a Russian missile strike. In Sumy, buildings and the bell tower of the Holy Resurrection Cathedral were damaged in a drone attack. In Kharkiv, missile attacks damaged the house of prayer of the All Saints community of the Ukrainian Lutheran Church and the local Holy Trinity Pentecostal church. In Balakliia, the occupiers damaged and looted the house of prayer of the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church. In the village of Ruski Tyshky in the Kharkiv region, Russians destroyed the Church of Archangel Michael during the occupation. In Chernihiv, enemy shelling damaged a nationally significant architectural monument of the 17th–18th centuries – the Cathedral of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine.
