At the Greek-Catholic cathedral in Paris, a vibrant prayer for Ukraine

“This attitude of prayer is very important: it allows us to express the communion of the dioceses of France with the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church”. Before taking his place in the Ukrainian cathedral of Saint-Volodymyr-le-Grand, in Paris, on Friday February 24, Mgr Dominique Blanchet, bishop of Créteil, evokes his support for the Ukrainian community.

A year to the day after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a hundred faithful gathered at the cathedral of the Greek Catholic Church for a non-eucharistic service. This celebration directly echoes the request of Msgr. Sviatoslav Chevtchouk, primate of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, whose faithful represented 7% of the Ukrainian population before the war. The latter invited to pray and fast especially this February 24 for peace in Ukraine.

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“I came to church to pray for my soldier son in Ukraine,” says Kornuta Galyna, who has lived in France for ten years. In the cathedral, before the beginning of the office, the faithful pray, accompanied by the choir which sings the end of the divine liturgy. Some greet each other, others approach the altar.

Several Catholic representatives attend the service as a sign of support. In addition to Mgr Blanchet, also present are Mgr Laurent Ulrich, Archbishop of Paris, Father Jean-Marie Humeau, Episcopal Vicar of the Ordinariate of Catholics of the Eastern Churches residing in France, and Father Jean-Christophe Vinot, Private Secretary of Bishop Ulrich. During the celebration, sung in French, litanies and hymns follow one another. In a collected silence, the text of the Gospel chosen for the occasion is read by Father Jean-Marie Humeau.

“Peace is truly our vocation”, underlines the Archbishop of Paris, after the reading of the Gospel. Bishop Ulrich invites us to “keep this trust that Christ comes to tell us again in the Gospel that, through the harshest events in our history, Christ does not abandon us. Above all, it nourishes the desire for peace: not simply to put an end to the warlike episode, but to install in the hearts of all the desire for a peace that is superior”.

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A song for peace, in Ukrainian, concluded the service. The participants, Ukrainians as French, then get up to sing it with fervor. At the end of the celebration, many faithful leave the cathedral, in the scent of incense. Among them, Antoine-Joseph, he, of Maronite rite, who taught for ten years in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital: “For more than a year, I have been helping Ukrainian students from Paris to find a job or continue their studies. , and I come regularly to Saint-Volodymyr-le-Grand to render service to the priests”.

For her part, Maria, 44, called her father in Ukraine the same morning to tell him that she was going to church on February 24, to pray “for peace and for the family who remained there”. .

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