The war in Ukraine is a reminder of the invisible spiritual battle that Christians fight every day against the temptation to sin, the leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said on Wednesday.
“This war reminds us more and more of the rules of unseen warfare, the spiritual struggle that every Christian wage with the devil, with evil, and his servants,” Major Archbishop said in his video message issued on 30 March.
“Today I want to recall another rule of this spiritual struggle,” he said. “Evil always hides in the dark. If the devil and evil deeds are brought to light, if they are debunked, then immediately the devil loses strength. He is destroyed in the light.”
Shevchuk, who is based in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, said that the light of God’s truth weakens and disarms the devil.
“Therefore, if we hide or conceal our sins, our flaws, they become stronger, they dominate us. But when we bring them to light, go to confession, speak of them truthfully to ourselves, and open our hearts to a spiritual father, it is as if we bring the devil to the light and take away his power,” he said.
The Major Archbishop thanked people for working in mass media and communications “who tell the truth at the cost of their own lives.”
“They tell the truth about the suffering and pain of Ukraine,” he said, noting that in Russia words such as “war” are banned in the media.
“I thank all those who have the courage, to tell the truth, who not only hear the truth about Ukraine but bring it to the world and thereby unmask, bring the devil to light, disarm him. And it gives us the strength to be victorious,” Shevchuk said.