Three years have passed since the full-scale military Russian aggression against Ukraine began. Not three days, as the enemies planned, but a full three years the Ukrainian people have been resisting this large-scale, unprecedented for modern times, hostile armed invasion of the occupiers. Our people are resisting, which means they have not surrendered, not capitulated, not lost. And I believe: with God’s help, we will surely win, because truth always triumphs!

At the state level, the National Day of Prayer will be celebrated every year on February 24. Prayer for Ukraine, our spiritual hymn “God, Great, Unique,” sounds special in today’s realities of war. This musical masterpiece, written during the Emsky decree of the Russian Empire, when the Ukrainian language was banned in many areas of life, survived all prohibitions and persecutions, united the Ukrainian people, and inspires them today.

The words were written by Oleksandr Konysky, and the music by Mykola Lysenko in 1885. This year marks the 140th anniversary of the creation and first performance of “God, Great, Unique,” which took place in Ternopil. This spiritual hymn was performed by a multi-thousand choir on the square in front of St. Sophia’s Cathedral during the national liberation struggle on December 20, 1917, and also on the day of the unification of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic on January 22, 1919. It could not be erased from the people’s memory during the Soviet occupation, and with special enthusiasm, it returned to our spiritual life along with the rebirth of Ukrainian Independence.

Today, in the time of the modern Russian-Ukrainian war, every word of this prayer unites all of us in concern for the fate and will of the Ukrainian people. And we ask the Almighty: “God, Great, Unique, protect Ukraine!” – Metropolitan Epiphanius Metropolitan Epiphanius

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