Ομιλία Βαρθολομαίου για τα 4 χρόνια πολέμου στην Ουκρανία [en]

ADDRESS 

of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew – Fourth Anniversary of the Invasion of Ukraine – 

Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, Patriarchal Church of Saint George, Phanar, 24 February 2026

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Reverend Fathers,

Honourable Consul General of Ukraine,

Your Excellencies,

Honourable Consuls General and distinguished representatives of the Diplomatic Corps,

Distinguished members of the local Ukrainian community,

Beloved in Christ,

We stand together at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in the sobered beauty of this first week of Holy and Great Lent. In this ancient rite, we receive the Body and Blood of our Lord—gifts already sanctified—not for momentary consolation alone, but that we might carry that sacred life into the world’s shadows. This Liturgy invites us to intercede deeply; it is the Church’s way of breathing through the pain of a wounded world.

On this same day, another weight rests upon our hearts. Four years have now transpired since the full-fledged armed assault against the sovereignty of Ukraine was unleashed—a relentless campaign that has scarred the land and fractured the lives of countless families. We see the empty chairs at the table: mothers and fathers waiting for children, wives for their husbands, and young boys and girls searching the horizon for a father’s return. Towns that once bustled with life are now silent, their rooftops shattered, and their streets emptied. So many endure displacement, longing for the familiar threshold of a home that may no longer exist.

As the years accumulate, there is a natural human reaction to numbness—a slow blunting of sorrow so that life might simply go on. And yet, we cannot permit the world to view this ongoing tragedy as ordinary or inevitable. Each casualty is not a statistic; it is a sacred life, bearing the unique imprint of God. We must guard our hearts against a hardened indifference, for to forget the suffering of others is itself a form of spiritual impoverishment.

On this holy day, too, the Church commemorates the First and Second Finding of the precious head of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John. He was a herald of truth whose testimony was so unsettling to the powers of his day that they sought to silence him through violence. His voice was stilled, and the instrument of his witness was hidden in the earth. Yet truth could not be confined; it re-emerged, moving beneath the surface until its hour of revelation. This “finding” reminds us that those who bury the truth succeed only in delaying its appearance.

This image resonates with the endurance of the Ukrainian people. For centuries, they have preserved their faith, their language, and their cultural heritage amid pressures to disappear into the shadows of larger empires. Attempts to suppress the spirit of a people may inflict deep wounds, but they cannot annihilate the life within them. The yearning for freedom and the ability to live according to one’s own conscience are God-given realities that cannot be expunged by force.

In this venerable place, we reiterate the steadfast concern of the Mother Church of Constantinople for Ukraine. From the waters of the Dnieper in the baptism of Kyivan Rus’ to this present hour, our bonds have been shaped by a common faith and shared history. Suffering anywhere in Ukraine is felt here at the Phanar, for when one member of the Body of Christ is pierced, the whole Body bleeds.

We lift our prayers today for those whose lives have been taken—not as collateral damage in a strategy of power, but as cherished persons whose absence leaves a void that no geopolitical settlement can fill. We pray for those who bear the unseen scars of the spirit; for families torn apart; and for those counting the hours in the cold silence of captivity. We pray, too, for the guardians of the threshold—those standing in defence of their land not out of a desire for conflict, but out of a profound love for their own kin and a future yet unwritten.

What we seek is not a mere cessation of hostilities, but a genuine, just, and lasting peace. A battlefield without gunfire is not always peace; it may be an uneasy silence, fatigue mistaken for tranquillity, or surrender masquerading as calm. A true concord requires the restoration of what was violated and the recognition of a nation’s right to determine its own destiny. It is a moral imperative that a people’s future cannot be negotiated in secret or decided without their full and equal participation. Anything less is not peace; it is merely injustice given a diplomatic name.

Great and Holy Lent calls us to this hard work of transformation. We cannot fast from food while feasting on indifference. We cannot profess love for a God we do not see while turning away from the suffering neighbour who stands directly before us. This journey toward Pascha is a commitment to walk through the darkness without losing sight of the light.

Beloved in the Lord, 

We are confident that the truth of Ukraine’s struggle will eventually shine forth as clearly as the Forerunner’s head was found and revealed to the world. The Church will not abandon you. We remain present in prayer and in action, committed to standing with Ukraine through every step toward a day of authentic reconciliation. Just as the John the Baptist’s witness survived the efforts to entomb it, so too shall the dignity of Ukraine emerge from this trial, vindicated and free.

May the Lord grant you resilience. May He inspire the leaders of nations to pursue the narrow path of justice. And may the light of Christ, which no darkness can extinguish, shine upon Ukraine and upon all the world.

May God be with you and grant you every blessing!