Catholics make up less than 10% of Ukrainian Christians, but the local church loyal to Rome has relentlessly pushed for dialogue, while also promising to stand up against the Russian aggressor. Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, who heads the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine, urged believers on Wednesday to join Francis in prayer and fasting on the seventh day of war.
“These past few days we said that only when we will be united, cohesive, we will become strong and we will be able to resist this war,” the archbishop said. “The power of a people is in unity.”
“Joining in prayer means transmitting life to one another, it means sharing one’s own vital force with our neighbor, and thus become stronger with that vital force that we receive from those with whom we join in prayer,” Shevchuk said in his daily message from Kyiv.
Fasting also takes on a unifying dimension, the archbishop said. “Today’s fasting is so important to cast away that which divides us: the devil, the spirit of war and the spirit of death,” he said.
This article originally appeared here.
